2021 will mark a “big bet” year for Golden Road within Anheuser-Busch.
The world’s largest beer company via its craft business unit, the Brewers Collective, will increase its investment in the Los Angeles-based craft brewery that it acquired in 2015 by seven times in 2021.
That investment will include Golden Road’s first television campaign, which is expected to debut in February 2021 in the company’s home market of California, as well as in three markets where the company is hoping to go deeper: Kansas City, Philadelphia and Tampa.
“Those markets will be the ones that are the heavy focus,” Golden Road general manager Dan Hamill shared with Brewbound.
The investment in Golden Road rides a wave of momentum into the new year. Hamill said the brewery’s volume has increased 6% overall this year, despite on-premise closures caused by the pandemic.
“We’ve sold the most cases that we’ve ever sold before in the brewery’s history,” he said.
For a gauge on Golden Road’s side, the brewery’s volume increased 50%, to 240,000 barrels, in 2019, according to data from national trade group the Brewers Association.
Through the first 10 months of 2020, off-premise dollar sales of Mango Cart Wheat Ale, the company’s flagship offering, are up 87.6%, to $6.5 million, according to market research firm IRI. Hamill added that sales of Mango Cart 15-packs are up 114% in off-premise retailers.
For 2021, Golden Road will look to double the distribution of Mango Cart both within its home state of California, as well as across the country, Hamill said. He pointed to opportunities in both the convenience channel and club stores.
Beyond the off-premise, Golden Road has an eye on the return of the on-premise channel, and the company is primed to compete within the channel with a new Mango Cart tap handle, which will be available in March, and branded glassware.
“As the on-premise rebounds, we want to be right there with our on-premise partners to help support them and also make sure that Mango Cart is available for the consumers as they come back into the on-premise,” Hamill said.
As such, the company is planning a beer cocktails program for bars and restaurants called “Ways to Mango.”
“This brand is so diverse in what the consumer can do with it,” Hamill said.
Within the expansion plans, Golden Road plans to go deeper within the Kansas City market, where the company has a partnership with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Although the company makes Kingdom Blonde Ale to commemorate the partnership, Golden Road will attempt to gain traction with Mango Cart in a competitive market where Boulevard Brewing Company has established its flagship Wheat as a go-to craft beer for Midwestern drinkers.
Hamill said the foray into Kansas City was driven by the data and the partnership with the Chiefs, and not so much because of Boulevard developing the market for wheat beers.
“And you know that [the partnership with the Chiefs] has also helped us to build a relationship with our wholesaler partners there and our retail partners,” he said. “That gives us a better opportunity to bring Mango Cart to the masses of Kansas City.”
Beyond Mango Cart, Golden Road is aiming to build its Fruit Cart Hard Seltzer line into a strong regional seltzer brand, with an eye on someday cracking the top five, Hamill said.
Fruit Cart, which launched in July and is available primarily in West Coast states California, Arizona and Nevada, is being positioned as Golden Road’s “secondary bet.”
“We’re touting it as a seltzer that you can taste because of the flavor aspect to it,” Hamill said.
“That category is on fire and we want to be there along with that growth, and we think we have a point of differentiation from the top two players in the market, and that’s with the real fruit juice,” he continued. “We think that brings more flavor and flavor is king for us.”
Through October, sales of Fruit Cart’s variety pack — featuring four flavors: Strawberry Pineapple, Mango, Cucumber Lime and Watermelon — are up 78.7%, to $5.6 million, according to market research firm IRI.
Golden Road will attempt to stoke that growth by launching a second variety 12-pack featuring new flavors — Passionfruit Guava, Tangerine Yuzu and Raspberry Lime — on the West Coast starting April 1.
Beyond Mango Cart and Fruit Cart, Golden Road will continue to build the Wolf Pup family of IPAs with Hazy Pup, which launched earlier in 2020, and Passion Wolf, a 7% ABV fruited hazy IPA that will launch in 2021.
Wolf Pup Session IPA along with Hazy Pup and Passion Wolf Hazy will be part of a variety 12-pack that will release on the West Coast in February in time for the Super Bowl. Wolf Pup will also undergo a brand refresh after its off-premise dollar sales declined 5.5%, to more than $6.7 million, year-to-date through November 1, according to market research firm IRI.
In July, A-B appointed Golden Road co-founder Meg Gill to the role of VP of marketing for the Brewers Collective. Gill also oversees beyond beer brand LQD and former Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) innovation arm the pH Experiment in the wake of CBA’s integration into A-B’s craft division.