New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Juice Force is the No. 1 craft beer launch ever, New Belgium CEO Steve Fechheimer shared during a recent update following the company’s wholesaler meetings.
Launched earlier this year, Juice Force, the 9.5% ABV hazy imperial IPA, is “topping off” the overall growth of the Voodoo Ranger family, which has posted depletions of nearly +30% through the first three quarters of 2022, Fechheimer added.
Year-to-date through September 4, Juice Force has posted more than $40.1 million in off-premise dollar sales in multi-outlet and convenience stores tracked by market research firm IRI, making it the 12th largest craft brand at retail and the sixth largest IPA.
Fechheimer noted the brand family’s growth isn’t just being propped up by the new offering. He pointed to growth across various parts of the IPA-centric Voodoo Ranger portfolio: Imperial is up +13%, Juicy Haze is up +21%, and variety packs are up +24%.
“When I see that health across so many parts of the portfolio, it tells me the brand has a long way to go in terms of what that opportunity is,” he said.
For 2023, New Belgium will look to follow up on that successful launch with a second Juice Force beer. Although Fechheimer declined to share the beer’s name, he teased it would be a more fruit-forward offering with the same 9.5% ABV as the original. The new offering will launch in 19.2 oz. single-serve cans, 6-packs and draft in January. Notably, the original Juice Force was initially only available in 19.2 oz. cans.
Even though Fechheimer declined to name the brand, a label approval filed with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in August, shows artwork for Fruit Force, a 9.5% ABV fruit punch IPA (h/t Beer Marketer’s Insights). The label also lists production for the beer taking place at New Belgium’s facilities in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Asheville, North Carolina, as well as Bell’s brewery in Comstock, Michigan.
Also for 2023, New Belgium will add Juice Force 12-packs, which Fechheimer said was the next “logical” place to go given the brand’s velocity.
“Sometimes when people think about or talking about Juice Force, they think about the character and the marketing, or maybe they think about the ABV, but actually forget what sits underneath that is a great beer,” he said. “You need all of those things to be successful as a brand, and Juice Force just hits on this combination of great beer and popular style priced in a way that’s attractive to consumers and has the ABV profile they’re looking for.”
New Belgium’s Year So Far, Voodoo Ranger’s C-Store Opportunity
The overall New Belgium portfolio will surpass 1.2 million barrels in 2022, Fechheimer confirmed. YTD through September 4, New Belgium’s dollar sales have topped $287.2 million (+20.2%) in off-premise retailers tracked by IRI. The combined Lion Little World Beverages portfolio (New Belgium and Bell’s Brewery) is up +12.4%, to more than $366 million, and is now the ninth largest beer category vendor, according to IRI.
Fechheimer stressed consistency being a key to the Voodoo Ranger brand, which is for the fifth consecutive year New Belgium’s No. 1 brand priority. The company plans to put more media spend behind Voodoo Ranger than ever before to “continue to drive awareness of the brand.”
“We continue to have relatively low awareness compared with larger brands in our space,” he said. “We do think between distribution opportunities and awareness opportunities the brand still has a long way to go from a growth perspective.”
Among those opportunities is the convenience channel, with 50% of the convenience universe in the U.S. that either doesn’t sell a single Voodoo Ranger SKU or have the full lineup of SKUs. The opportunity is especially large in c-stores as New Belgium holds a quarter of the craft single-serve market, and possesses the top two brands overall all, as well as the top two velocity brands, Fechheimer said.
“That’s a significantly larger opportunity to get a full lineup there,” he said.
Another “big opportunity” for Voodoo Ranger is draft, which is less than 10% of the brand’s mix today, Fechheimer said.
“The No. 1 IPA in the country should be on most draft towers across the country,” he said.
The strategy then extends to winning in grocery and off-premise liquor stores, as part of the company’s “fix the mix” internal program aimed at “getting the right assortment,” Fechheimer said.
Even though Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA is the No. 1 selling IPA in off-premise retailers, it’s still less than half a percent of beer category sales. Still, Fechheimer believes Voodoo Ranger has “broken through the dynamic of how big a craft brand” can be.
“We think about what this brand would mean if it was 1% of beer, which is certainly achievable,” he said. “It’s just an entirely different mindset for us as a company and a huge opportunity for our distributor network.”
Voodoo Ranger has been growing depletions in the high 20s to low 40s each year, growing about 30% in 2022.
“We’ve been building this through really steady and consistent brand building,” he said. “We’ve done this through smart, consumer-led innovation, and if we can continue to do those things, we’ll continue to see those 30% to 50% growth rates we’ve seen on the brand for a while.”
Along with Voodoo Ranger, New Belgium’s core four for 2023 includes Fat Tire, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale and Oberon. Those four brands account for 85% of the combined company’s business, Fechheimer said.
“We can’t be the Voodoo Ranger brewery and rely on that,” he said. “We specifically came together with Bell’s because we see the power of that portfolio. We know brands and trends there are life cycles. We think with Voodoo Ranger, we have a very long road in front of us with that brand. But we want to continue to be building multiple brands within multiple parts of the category.”
Fat Tire Receives Reformulated Recipe with Raw Barley, Packaging Refresh
New Belgium’s long-time flagship Fat Tire is a brand that has been positioned as a “leader in climate action” in recent years, Fechheimer said. That brand “ethos” is something the company sees resonating with 21- to 29-year-old consumers, an age group Voodoo Ranger has also found success with.
As such, the company is starting to brew Fat Tire with raw barely, which has had an impact on the company’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. Using raw barley in brewing the beer’s recipe presented the company an opportunity to “optimize the beer and modernize the packaging to represent a more drinkable beer that’s a leader on climate.” The new packaging and reformulated beer will roll out in January.
Two Hearted to Become a Family, Starting with Hazy Hearted
Bell’s flagship Two Hearted is being expanded into a family of brands in 2023, starting with Hazy Hearted IPA (7.5% ABV), Fechheimer shared. The company has previously attempted to expand Hearted into a family through limited-time offerings (LTOs), but 2023 marks the most “concerted effort” to build that family, Fechheimer said.
Bell’s will release a Hearted 12-pack variety pack – including Two Hearted, Hazy Hearted, Big Hearted imperial IPA, which was previously released as a LTO, and an experimental member of the Hearted Family – in January.
Oberon Variety Pack Coming
Bell’s will also release an Oberon variety pack next summer with flavored variants of the flagship seasonal release.
“It just brings a little bit of a second wave of news and trial into that brand as you go through summer,” Fechheimer said.
The plan is to keep Oberon as a seasonal offering that really kicks off the summer and baseball season, he added, noting that “Oberon Day” is “actually a holiday in Michigan,” as decreed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Fechheimer said. As such, the company plans to maintain its seasonal designation while filling the distribution gap in out-of-season months.