(St. Louis, MO) – Anheuser-Busch will take a page from the playbook of rival, MillerCoors, when it introduces a new summer seasonal this year.
Miller’s Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing had a very successful run with Summer Shandy in 2011. In just three years, the brand has grown to a powerhouse with nearly 200,000 barrels produced in just a six-week period last year. Consider that some of the largest craft breweries don’t even produce 200,000 barrels in a full year. Leinie’s is planning to expand its Shandy line with new flavors in late 2012 as well.
What better evidence that it is time for AB to get in the Shandy game?
Anheuser-Busch will launch Shock Top Lemon Shandy as a summer seasonal. The label can be seen above and a full bottle shot is available here.
The company is still building out the Shock Top line, having added Wheat IPA and Pumpkin Wheat in recent months. At an industry level, both styles had performed well in Symphony IRI scan data prior to AB adding them to the portfolio.
Shandy has yet to take off with other breweries though, according to MillerCoors most recent earnings release, Leinie’s Summer Shandy grew 80% in sales over 2010.
Seriousily AB, be proactive, be da king & don’t copy! Leinenkugel has had “Summer Shandy” for a couple years. And it’s a big hit!! Come up with a different name, other than Shandy!!! That’s a desperate attempt and a way to “try” to save grace. Not the best “attempt” in this day an age!!!
You are losing grounds! 2nd most popular beer now, to your flagship, is Coor’s Light. WTF, that’s water!!! I think you are starting to lose concentration on making QUALITY beer, and trying to capitalize on quantity! Wrong formula!! There are plenty of conneseuirs of barley/malt/&hopps, but you are going about the wrong means!!!
You may take offense in this, but I surely hope you take this as a wake up call.
There has been “shandys” around long before the flavored water known as lienenkugal.
True but they’ve popularized it like no other has (in modern times anyway).
Is this really anything more than an attempt to capitalize on the “shandy” name of a competitor and gain even more market-share?
Kudos to A-B though for attempting to make an awful beer (Shock Top) even worse. Nobody does it better.
Hey, “DADsBBq” — Shandy is a style.
Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy has become one of the most, if not THE most, sought-after summer seasonal beers out there. I know at my workplace, we easily sell through entire pallets worth of it within a few days, 6-packs and 12-packs alike. So AB thinks they can sway some of those consumers onto THEIR version? I could see Shocktop fans being interested, but I don’t see it reaching anywhere NEAR the success of Leinenkugel, though only time will tell.
AB does noting but copy styles of beer to try and capitalize and steal sales from other breweries, all of which have been terrible in flavor. One of the worlds largest brewers and they can’t come up with their own styles.
First of all “Shandy” is a style of beer, not a particular name.
AB is only trying to capitalize on the great success of Leine Summer Shandy. So yes, they are playing the copy cat game. Despite the taste of the product, idiots will buy it. Sales at my distributor were up 200% in 2011. This year we tripled out buy in for Leine Summer Shandy. Lemon Shandy is not going to effect our sales.
AB is Falling….Falling Fast. They have Copied other products in the past and will continue to in the future.
Miller Lite——–Bud Light
Miller Chill—— Bud Light Lime
Leine Sunset Wheat——Shock Top & Bud Light Golden Wheat
Leine Summer Shandy—–Shock Top Lemon Shandy
ok tool
bud light #1 beer in the country
bud light lime big success miller chill dont even sell
ok golden wheat was a flop all brewers have them
shock top up big with all brands why not do a shandy it will sell big
Tool, is right. Every item he listed A-B out sells the first. Won’t be long and Shock Top Shandy will be out selling leine’s shandy.
Seriously? The guy is right. MillerCoors releases a product and Bud Copies. There is no chance in hell that Shock Top Lemon Shandy will outsell Leine Shandy. Both products are the same price and Leine is yrs ahead. Have you seen the Handle? Nice Visor and sunglasses. Last yr Shandy sold over 200,000 BBLS in 5 months. Shock Top wont touch that.
The Shock Top brand is throwing darts hoping something will stick. Shock Top Wheat IPA? Really?
AB is in a panic in Ohio. With the release of Yuengling, more AB handles were lost than MillerCoors, Great Lakes and Sam Adams COMBINED. That’s a fact. “Higher Ups” have been in the State overseeing Sales Reps due to huge drop offs in the AB portfolio. House of Larose is a large AB distributor in Ohio has brought in “Bud Specialists” to revive the brand.
Domestic Beer sales are down as a whole. I know that. But if you look at the Sales of MillerCoors vs AB in 2011, you will see.
Wow, what’s up with all the people getting mad in this shoutbox, I’ve never seen anything like it here. Just relax.
Yuengling in ohio . I cant wait till it gets to indiana sorry AB . I’ll jump ship in a hop beat!!