The makers of Shiner Bock believe they’ve developed an IPA-centric line capable of being a national contender with other legacy craft brewers such as New Belgium (Voodoo Ranger) and Sierra Nevada (Hazy Little Thing).
Shiner, Texas-based Spoetzl Brewery has toyed with IPAs in the past, but nothing on the level of Tex Hex, a new umbrella brand for IPAs that launched in January with Bruja’s Brew, a 7% ABV IPA made with cactus water and Amarillo hops.
“This isn’t our first launch into IPA, but it’s our biggest,” Nicholas Weiland, Shiner senior brand manager, told Brewbound.
Bruja’s Brew was released in limited distribution in Texas and other markets but will receive a full launch in 6- and 12-pack cans, as well as draft, this spring. The Tex Hex line will expand in April with the release of Desert Mirage, an 8% ABV hazy IPA brewed with Strata hops, and again in September with Twin Dream. a 9.5% ABV double IPA made with Idaho 7, Citra, Strata. All three offerings will be sold year-round.
In addition to 6- and 12-pack cans, the company will add 4-packs of 16 oz. cans and a 24 oz. single-serve cans later this year, Weiland said.
The launch of Tex Hex marks Shiner’s biggest foray into the IPA style segment, which generated nearly $1.5 billion in off-premise sales in 2021, the most of any craft beer style, according to market research firm NielsenIQ. Add in hazy IPAs and imperial/double/triple IPAs, the two fastest growing craft beer styles, which NielsenIQ breaks out separately from traditional IPAs, and that’s an additional $911 million in combined off-premise dollar sales.
Matt Pechman, Shiner head of marketing, told Brewbound that he envisions the Tex Hex line rotating through offerings to keep the franchise fresh, similar to New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger.
“It’s almost certain that we’ll launch a few more under this umbrella next year, perhaps in variety packs and other sizes, other formats,” he said. “So we’re again really going after this category.”
Pechman described Shiner’s investment in the Tex Hex franchise as the company’s biggest of 2022 at “well over a million dollars” across traditional and non-traditional media, including digital, social and hand-painted murals across Texas.
The Tex Hex line gives Spoetzl another brand to pair with Shiner Bock, the company’s flagship offering, which accounts for more than 70% of its business. Spoetzl previously tried its luck in IPA with Wicked Ram and Wicked Juicy, but those previous IPA attempts didn’t stick.
“IPA wasn’t who we were, right?” Weiland said. “And so having an IPA under that Shiner banner ultimately just didn’t play out well for us long term.”
What’s different this time around is the company is taking a consumer-focused approach, asking Shiner drinkers what they want in an IPA, while seeking out popular styles and trends in order to build Tex Hex from the ground up, Weiland said.
Still, Tex Hex calls back to the Shiner brand and its Texas roots, with cactus water used in the brewing process. The packaging features “La Bruja, the alchemist,” a character who appears ripped from the pages of a graphic novel.
La Bruja was developed in partnership with Austin, Texas-based creative agency Bakery. The company is hoping to find similar success to New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger, with its own cartoon skeleton mascot. Shiner described La Bruja as “a dark, mysterious shaman who roams the Texas desert gathering ingredients for her otherworldly creations. Brewed with fire, magic, and sin, her IPAs are only for the worthy, the ones called by the wind.”
The La Bruja character has received positive reviews from consumers, who love “this strong female character,” Weiland said.
“It’s something that you don’t really see in the beer industry historically,” he said, “to have a female character that’s not overly sexualized, and that is really this unique, intriguing character.”
Pechman added that the excitement from wholesalers and retailers around the brand and the character, “has us really, really optimistic about the opportunity for Tex Hex.”
The creation of Tex Hex and La Bruja is an extension of Shiner’s efforts to reach new consumers. Last year, the company launched the “Say it with Shiner” campaign in an effort to recruit Generation Z consumers, as well as women and multicultural Hispanic and Mexican American consumers, Pechman said. Around 20% of Shiner’s consumer base is Hispanic or Mexican Americans, he added.
“We have a great opportunity to talk to and connect with that consumer,” Pechman said. “Everything that we’re doing is trying to make this brand more culturally relevant to younger legal-drinking-age consumers or diverse consumers.”
Shiner grew mid-single-digits in off-premise retailers in 2021 and the return of the on-premise pushed the company into mid-single digit growth last year, Pechman said. Driving that growth was Shiner Bock’s return to the on-premise channel and the growth of Shiner Sea Salt & Lime, which Pechman said was the No. 1 craft launch in Texas and No. 4 in Texas overall.
Shiner’s on-premise business has not quite recovered to 2019 levels, but it’s inching closer, at around 90% of what it was two years ago, Weiland said.
The goal for 2022 is to build upon 2021’s growth with the addition of Tex Hex.
“We think this can be right up there with some of the top selling IPAs nationally,” Weiland said.