For its 2025 brand plan, New Trail Brewing is seeing things more clearly than the six-year-old craft brewery ever has before, leadership told partners during the brewery’s inaugural distributor summit earlier this month.
This is to say its major innovation play for next year is Trail Marker West Coast IPA, a departure from the hazy IPAs that helped Williamsport, Pennsylvania-based New Trail rocket to nearly 40,000 barrels in annual output since opening in 2018.
“It’s time for us to compete in some spaces that aren’t hazy IPAs,” director of sales Jon Hoey told distributors. “Trail Marker is different than anything else that we’ve done. It is going to take us deeper in the IPA space.”
The Broken Heels hazy IPA brand family – which includes Broken Heels IPA, Double Broken Heels IPA and a seasonal rotator – accounted for 46% of the case volume New Trail sold in the first seven months of 2024, according to data the brewery shared during the summit.
Broken Heels IPA’s dollar sales are up +14.9% in the L52W and volume increased +15.1%, according to market research firm NIQ. Double Broken Heels recorded the same volume growth, but roughly half the dollar sales growth (+7.6%), as its retail price has declined -6.4% in NIQ-tracked channels, to $57.26/case.
Overall, dollar sales of New Trail’s portfolio have increased +20.5% in the 52-week period ending August 10, according to NIQ. Volume, measured in case sales, has increased +38.4%.
Despite its success with hazy IPAs, the majority of top-selling IPAs are not hazy, which gives New Trail fertile ground for innovation.
“Looking at the national scan data for the last 26 weeks, nine of the top 15 IPAs are clear IPA brands,” Hoey said. “Nationwide, 31 of the top 50, and that top 50 makes up half the category.”
Speaking to Brewbound after the summit, marketing director Don Rieck said the traditional West Coast IPA style is ripe for a shakeup, as it’s “definitely controlled by the big players.”
“There hasn’t been any innovation that really sticks there for a long time,” he said.
Trail Marker IPA (6.5% ABV) will launch on draft in November, with 12 oz. can 12-packs and 16 oz. can 4-packs to follow in February. Trail Marker Imperial IPA (9% ABV) will be available on draft and in single-serve 19.2 oz. cans.
The brewery is targeting the independent off-premise channel for Trail Marker 12-packs to build brand awareness via displays. To accommodate the new pack, New Trail is putting its fruited Broken Heels rotator 12-pack on hiatus
The creation of Trail Marker forced the hazy IPA-heavy brewery to approach processes in a different light, COO and head brewer Mike LaRosa said during the summit.
“We were focusing so much on the hops and the grist, but the smoking gun was right in front of us – it was all about trying to build from the foundation, so we swapped our water profile out,” he said. “We enhanced the way that we use hops, and we adjusted our traditional hop schedules and focused on selecting really great hops for West Coast IPA.”
Trail Marker uses a blend of Centennial, Amarillo and Simcoe hops, but the brewery opted for late harvest Simcoe, which adds dank, piney aromas, instead of early harvest Simcoe, which can impart more fruitiness.
“We wanted to be in another segment of the market, and we think that Trail Marker is going to take us there,” LaRosa said.
Rieck added that the brewing team is “really pumped” about the new Trail Marker family.
“Most of our medals are in lager, but we know we can really make awesome clear and bitter beer too,” he said.
Crisp Lager Family, 15-Pack Collection to Grow
Speaking of lagers, New Trail is projecting 110,000 case equivalents (CEs) in volume for its Crisp lager family across its full footprint in 2025, according to its presentation deck.
For the 52-week period ending August 10, Crisp Lager, the family’s flagship offering, has increased dollar sales +291% and volume by +410%, according to market research firm NIQ. The 4.8% ABV lager debuted in 2022, and gained a new sibling in Crisp Lime this summer.
Both Crisp and Crisp Lime, a seasonal offering available from March through August, are available in 12 oz. can 15-packs. As other brewers have backed away from the 15-pack format, the success of both brands has ranked New Trail the fifth-largest purveyor of 15-packs nationwide, Hoey said. The brewery is on pace to sell more than 40,000 CEs of 15-packs in 2024, and expects that volume to double or triple in 2025, he said.
“A lot of brewers have pulled back on packs – a lot of the [Anheuser-Busch InBev]-led craft breweries are discontinuing their 15-packs, [Artisanal Brewing Ventures-owned] Victory and Southern Tier are moving away from 15-packs,” Hoey said. “They’re opening up space for someone to come in and compete with affordable beer, and we’re going to prove it.”
In addition to Crisp and Crisp Lime, New Trail is adding Crisp Amber in 15-packs later this month as a new year-round offering. Crisp Amber will be the first draft beer poured at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium when football season begins in a few weeks.
New Trail, about 60 miles northeast of Penn State’s campus, debuted State Light lager (4.2% ABV) at the start of the 2023 football season in 16 oz. can 4-packs. In 2025, it will transition to 12 oz. can 15-packs, and will be available on draft at Beaver Stadium, as well as throughout the state.
Both Crisp and Crisp Amber will be available in festive seasonal packaging in November and December 2025 for the brewery’s Crispmas campaign, which includes charitable donations for every pack sold.
Broken Heels Non-Alcoholic IPA Coming for Dry January
As the craft non-alcoholic (NA) segment continues to grow, New Trail is wading into the space with Broken Heels Non-Alcoholic IPA, which will reach retailers in wrapped 12 oz. can 6-packs in January 2025.
“This is going to continue to be a trend,” Hoey said. “Craft beer drinkers are looking for diverse non-alcoholic options.”
Craft NA segment leader Athletic Brewing is dominant, with 51% of dollar sales of NA craft nationwide, and 53% of NA craft sales in Pennsylvania, Hoey said.
In the 52-week period ending August 11, NA beer increased dollar sales +29.6% and volume +23.3%, according to market research firm Circana, which does not separate craft NA from macro.
In the craft NA segment, as with the full-strength craft segment, IPA is the lead style, and accounts for nearly half of all dollars, making the Broken Heels family an obvious choice to undergo the NA treatment. Additionally, New Trail’s hiking-centric brand dovetails well with the better-for-you consumer trend driving NA beer.
“Our active lifestyle and outdoor branding, it begs for a non-alcoholic option,” Hoey said. “New Trail is already a trusted leader in the beer space, so many people are going to trust our non-alcoholic beer.”
24/7 Hazy Session IPA Rolling Out April 2025
New 24/7 Hazy Session IPA (4.72% ABV) will debut in April 2025 in 12 oz. can 15-packs and on draft. The beer is dry-hopped using Citra and Mosaic and fermented with thiolized yeast to boost those hops’ fruit-forward aromas, LaRosa said.
“For me, it’s a no brainer,” he said. “It’s a great beer and it hits all the things – it’s refreshing, it’s hazy, and for 4.72% [ABV], it’s got a really full mouthfeel and it has those citrus and tropical notes.”
The inspiration for 24/7 has been floating around for years, as the team has brewed lower-ABV options to serve during anniversary celebrations.
Strengthening the case for 24/7 is the enduring popularity of Mahou USA-owned Founders Brewing’s All Day IPA in Pennsylvania. According to NIQ data shared during the summit, All Day IPA 15-packs were the second best selling craft SKU in the state in the 13-week period ending July 31, behind Tröegs Perpetual imperial pale ale 12-packs.
The additions of Trail Marker, Broken Heels NA and 24/7 give New Trail players in nearly every sub-segment of IPA.
“We are going to double down, quadruple down in IPA,” Hoey told distributors. “If there’s an IPA style where we can compete, we’re going to make the damn thing.”
Unlike many of New Trail’s other IPAs, 24/7 will not be available in 16 oz. can 4-packs, because session beer drinkers prefer smaller servings, Rieck said.
“We’re giving them a smaller can, but we’re giving them a whole bunch of them,” he said.
Variety Packs
New Trail’s Hoppy Variety Pack, which accounted for 11% of volume in the first seven months of 2024, will rotate styles twice in 2025, in the spring and the fall.
In the 52-week period ending August 10, dollar sales of the pack have increased +13.6% and volume has grown +18%, according to NIQ data.
For its first 2025 iteration, Hoppy Variety Pack will include 12 cans of Broken Heels, Double Broken Heels, Trail Marker and 24/7. It is one of New Trail’s three 12-pack offerings, alongside Broken Heels and Trail Marker.
New Trail will expand its variety pack offerings with two seasonal variety 15-packs for summer and fall.
The summer pack will include a fruited Broken Heels variant, Crisp Lime, Citrus Summit IPA, Prickly Pear Sour and Painted Sky, the reformulated and rebranded version of New Trail White Ale. It will be available June through August as a “one-time drop, meant to sell out, easy-peasy,” Hoey said.
The fall variety pack will follow a similar one-time shipment strategy and will include Crisp Lager, Crisp Amber, Trail Marker, Zombies Are People Too pumpkin ale, and Fest Bier, a maibock, Rieck told Brewbound. The fall pack will be available September through November.
See prior Brewbound coverage for more on the fast-growing craft brewery’s 2024 performance.