Henry Ford once historically declared that buyers of his mass-produced motor cars could have any colour they wanted ‘so long as it is black’, writes Gordon Davidson.
In the UK’s pubs, a similar choice persists – customers can have any stout that they want, so long as it is Guinness.
But Scottish-founded beer mavericks BrewDog are this month launching a serious bid to end that monoculture, with the national on-trade launch of Black Heart, a stout specifically brewed to be a mass market challenge to the giant of St James’s Gate.
The enormity of this undertaking is not lost on Ben Lockwood, the BrewDog marketing manager charged with promoting Black Heart, who is nonetheless bullish about the brand’s prospects, arguing that the market is ripe for some disruption – and that BrewDog is best placed to do that disrupting.
“Of course there’s a lot of smaller players in the stout market, but 97% of the total volume sold is on draught, and the vast majority of that is Guinness – that is where customers really don’t have a choice at the moment,” said Ben.
“During lockdown we learned that people with some extra spending power want to explore and try new things, and the only category where they can’t currently do that is stout. In Black Heart we are providing that choice.”
As the second fastest growing beer category, stout is now worth £947m, gaining +8.8% in value and +0.9% share in the last three years, exceeding pre-covid levels.
“Guinness is a great brand, but 97% of a £947m market is a share that invites challenge. In our first year, we don’t need to take much of that to make Black Heart a success,” he noted.
BrewDog has, of course, produced many stouts in its time (including a popular milk stout called Jet Black Heart) but none of them have been intended for the mass market.
“What we have tried to do with Black Heart is take everything that we know about making super high quality stout, and aim that experience at creating a pint that customers will want to keep coming back to,” said Ben.
Black Heart taps, which will run off a nitro line, will start appearing from February 1st, serving up pints at 4.1% ABV, with tasting notes promising ‘chocolate and extra dark crystal malts giving layers of roasted, toasted coffee and cocoa, with a hint of caramel coming through’.
Ben added that the challenger is going to be ‘competitively priced’ against the leader, offering a real margin opportunity for operators. “We are fully launching Black Heart as one of our headliners nationally. We want the on-trade to get excited about this, and to see the potential not just for substitution, but for attracting younger more affluent consumers to the category.”
When we spoke, a fortnight ahead of launch, Ben was still awaiting the arrival of the Black Heart glassware, but was looking forward to the massive month-end roll out to all regions of the UK, into both BrewDog’s own pubs, and to its many independent and chain customers, where Punk IPA, Hazy Jane New England IPA, Planet Pale and Lost lager already have a strong presence at the bar.
Being BrewDog, of course, the promotional and social media campaign around the Black Heart launch will not suffer from an excess of tactful restraint. The Six Nations rugby tournament (which should be getting underway as you read this) is a particular focus of activity.
“On the day of the Scotland versus England match, we’ll have a mobile unit set up in a driveway along the road between Twickenham’s rail station and the stadium, and we’ll be offering unmarked samples of both Black Heart and the market leader, and inviting fans to choose their favourite,” he revealed. “One of our taglines is ‘what if it tastes better?’… and we are happy to put it out there for direct comparison.”
Another planned marketing tagline, which should raise a smile from people of a certain vintage, is ‘Toucan play at this game…’.
This latest launch from BrewDog is further proof that the company is not content with simply being top of the craft brewing league – in fact its stated ambition is to become one the world’s top five beer brands. Globally, BrewDog’s worth is estimated to be approaching £2billion, with expansion ongoing in the United States and India in particular.
At home, it has serious aspirations to claim 20% of the UK on-trade, and Ben indicated that it was ‘already in double figures’ on the road towards that goal. BrewDog’s bold bid to muscle onto the nation’s previously uncontested nitro lines may, if successful, take it the rest of the way.
One month after Black Heart has made its on-trade debut, it’ll make its first off-trade appearance with an exclusive listing in Tesco, in the familiar ‘widget’ cans.
“We are convinced our demographics and our brand can breathe new life into the category,” concluded Ben.
“Our investment in the brewery is continuous, and we have the capacity and efficiency needed for a launch at this national scale.
“We have a huge following on social media, and a bigger market reach than anyone else in craft brewing.
“If anyone is going to be able to challenge the market leader’s hold over stout, it’s us.”
