Boston Beer Company has the No. 1 share of the hard tea segment with Twisted Tea, the more than 20-year-old flavored malt beverage brand that continues to record exponential growth in scans.
But the company is not stopping there. Boston Beer is expanding its hard tea presence with a new spirits-based offering: Sun Cruiser.
Sun Cruiser is a 4.5% ABV spirits-based, non-carbonated, ready-to-drink beverage brand (RTD), made with “naturally brewed tea, real vodka, and just a hint of sweetness,” according to a press release.
“We are always thinking about innovation at Boston Beer and so we constantly have an innovation process happening all the time,” senior brand director Erica Taylor told Brewbound. “And we’re always looking for whitespace innovation areas where we don’t either have the occasion, or we don’t have the drinker and we’re able to capture them.
“[Sun Cruiser], it’s one that we have been noodling for a long time, and we really think it’s the right time to launch in these test markets,” she continued. “When we think about innovation, we really want to think about things that are incremental, and we really think this is an incremental part of the business.”
Sun Cruiser will launch in 14 test markets in March in two 12 oz. slim can 4-packs (Classic Iced Tea + Vodka and Half Iced Tea & Half Lemonade + Vodka) and a variety 8-pack (Classic Iced Tea, Half Iced Tea & Half Lemonade, Raspberry Iced Tea and Peach Iced Tea).
“We have a lot of experience in tea, so we have a lot of confidence in building tea products,” Taylor said. “But we do really believe in testing and launching in some early markets before we push out nationally.”
The regional test-and-learn approach to new products was developed after Boston Beer discontinued Bevy Long Drink in 2022, following a national launch for that FMB that resulted in disappointing sales.
“In hindsight, we would have been better off introducing the brand to a select group of markets to learn, nurture and evolve the brand, but took a chance by going national,” Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick wrote in a company-wide email last June, announcing Bevy’s discontinuation.
“As we move forward, you will see that only in special circumstances will we attempt to launch a new-to-world brand in a very young category nationally vs. testing it first on a smaller scale,” he continued.
Sun Cruiser will be “positioned slightly different than Twisted Tea,” with different package sizes and a more premium price point, lined with Boston Beer’s other spirits-based offerings, such as Truly Vodka Soda.
“Twisted Tea stands for fun loving, day drinking – our fans love it, because it’s so unpretentious and just fun,” Taylor said. “This brand is still gonna be fun, but it’s definitely positioned a little differently than Twisted Tea. … It’s a different drinker and we really believe it’s going to be actually incremental to the Twisted Tea business.”
That different target consumer is why Boston Beer decided to create a new spirits-based brand, rather than extend Twisted Tea with a spirits-based offering, Taylor said.
“We’re really leaning into that easy, carefree drinking moment,” Taylor said. “We’ve seen there’s a spectrum on ABV and this one really leans into that – easy-to-drink, sessionable, no carbonation, no bubbles. And then it does play into that better-for-you [space], with 100 calories and only one gram of sugar.”
The announcement comes a few weeks after Boston Beer’s Q3 earnings report, when the company adjusted its full-year financial guidance to reflect shipments and depletions decline of -5% to -7%.
Boston Beer also shared its 2024 innovation and brand strategy with wholesalers last month. Included in those plans is an “all gas, no brakes” approach to Twisted Tea, which includes playing “like a mass domestic beer” and not getting “distracted by smaller innovation” Taylor told wholesalers.