Allagash Brewing Company has resisted the urge to jump on the IPA trend for quite some time – at least within its core lineup – with growth driven by the success of its flagship Allagash White Belgian-style witbier. But next year, the Portland, Maine-based brewery is getting hoppy with the addition of Hop Reach IPA to its year-round offerings.
Hop Reach IPA – a 6.8% ABV “balanced, citrusy and tropical IPA, with a snap of bitterness,” – was developed over seven months by Allagash’s pilot team, and received more than 400 employee reviews, according to a press release. The offering is meant to be a “classic, timeless beer,” for both IPA lovers and consumers familiar with the Allagash brand.
Hop Reach will begin rolling out in January, with Allagash’s full footprint covered by mid-March, in time for spring retail resets. The IPA will be available in 16 oz. 4-packs, 12 oz. 6-packs and 12 oz. 12-packs of cans, varying by territory, as well as draft.
“We’ve designed it to complement Allagash White,” Naomi Neville, Allagash director of sales, said during a virtual tasting event with media members Wednesday. “Allagash White is still by far our flagship beer, It’s the beer that we started our business …this beer isn’t designed to take any focus or emphasis off the Allagash White brand. This is to sit next to it, to complement it, [and] give us a strong second brand in a very approachable style that a lot of people are familiar with.”
Allagash White is up +9% year-to-date in IRI-tracked channels, with draft up +27%, Neville said. In 2021, Allagash increased off-premise accounts for the brand by +35%, and increased “off-premise effective placements” by +74% compared to 2019, founder Rob Tod said in a November press briefing.
Allagash decided to add an IPA to its core lineup partially due to wholesalers asking for an IPA offering “for years,” Neville said. Last year, Allagash released Swiftly IPA as its spring seasonal, however, IPA remained a year-round gap in the company’s portfolio. A year later, Allagash expects Hop Reach to fill that gap and become the company’s No. 2 offering after Allagash White, passing Tripel, a Belgian-style golden ale.
“It is pretty much the first question you get when people walk up is ‘What’s your hoppiest beer?’ or ‘Do you have an IPA?’” Neville said. “Finally we will be able to say ‘Yes, we’ve got this beer right here.’”
IPA is the best-selling style in the craft beer segment, accounting for 45.1% of all craft dollars at off-premise chain retailers year-to-date through July 10, according to IRI. In that period, IPA has earned $1.13 billion. Although the style’s dollar sales have declined -4.3% compared to last year, its dollar share has increased +1.3%, far more than any other style in the segment. The next largest craft style is, coincidentally, Belgian wits.
Neville acknowledged that shelf space at retailers “is so hard to come these days” and some of Allagash’s existing brands may have to be moved to make space for the new IPA.
“The shelves are incredibly crowded,” Neville said. “We’re going to suggest the beer that makes the most sense for that retail account, and we really think that is an IPA. Of course, we’d love to get all the space out there, but we’re fully prepared that one of our beers will probably have to be the one that comes off.”
The Allagash marketing team worked closely with the production team in the creation of Hop Reach, creating a “nice alignment between branding, packaging and the beer itself,” Allagash brewmaster Jason Perkins said. The beer’s packaging has an “approachable” cream base, which still “stands out on the shelf” with graphic images of hops and leaves in green, blue and orange, Brett Willis, Allagash senior communications specialist, said.
“This was such a concerted effort,” Willis said. “It definitely feels familiar with our branding. … It feels like it’s a part of the year-round group of beers, but it also feels somewhat different.”
Hop Reach is not a hazy IPA, despite the subsegment driving IPA sales in IRI-tracked channels. The decision was made to prioritize aroma and flavor over appearance, as Allagash made sure to make an IPA entrant that was still inherently an “Allagash beer,” Perkins said.
“It’s based on not blindly ignoring what’s happening in the trade, but very much based on things that we want to do,” Perkins said. “We wanted to make a beer that we hope resonated for many years to come. Something you could see yourself drinking a few years from now.
“We’ve never been trend followers per-se here,” he continued. “This was no exception. We were focused on trying to make the best beer we could, and not necessarily following what trend was out there.”