Heineken USA is going for silver in January 2023.
The U.S. subsidiary of the Dutch brewing giant will roll out its newest innovation in Q1: Heineken Silver, which checks in at 95 calories, 3.2 grams of carbohydrates and 4% ABV. This allows Heineken USA (HUSA) to play in the beer industry’s biggest sandbox: premium light lagers.
“The really exciting piece here is we have one of the most admired brands in the market,” HUSA chief marketing officer Jonnie Cahill told Brewbound. “If you think about people, they really love the Heineken brand. But we don’t access the core of the U.S. beer market, which if you look to the market, 50% of the market – over 50% of the market – is lower calorie, lower bitterness, and Heineken Silver is specifically brewed at -1 degree centigrade to give an extra refreshing finish.”
Heineken Silver will be available in 12 oz. can and bottle 12-packs, 6-pack bottles and single-serve 24 oz. cans at launch, with more package formats to be added in the second half of 2023.
Although well-known, HUSA’s largest brands, Heineken original and non-alcoholic offering Heineken 0.0, lack some of the flavor attributes drinkers seek in premium light beer occasions. With Heineken Silver, the company will combine characteristics of the beer industry’s biggest segments: premium lights, which account for 20.4% of total off-premise dollars, and imports, which account for 22%, year-to-date through September 24, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.
“We’re looking to leverage the brand power, take more share over sessionable occasions, recruit new consumers into the franchise and so goes the loop,” CEO Maggie Timoney said.
The early reviews of the beer from wholesalers and key retail partners have been “excellent” so far, Cahill said.
“It’s still a Heineken beer, but it’s a really beautiful tasting, accessible, easy to drink, very refreshing, sessionable beer,” Cahill said. “You’re bringing the equity and the admiration for the brand and combining it with a beer based on 150 years of brewing and all this amazing stuff that we always do, similar to what we did with Heineken 0.0 and you’re accessing the heartland of the U.S. beer market.
“It’s an enormous opportunity for the brand and for our distributors and our customers to really step change the brand’s presence in the market, so it’s really, really exciting,” he continued.
To support the product, HUSA is investing up to $100 million in Heineken Silver’s launch, which will include significant sampling pushes, sponsorships and traditional and digital media. The spend is double what HUSA put behind Heineken 0.0 when it launched in 2019. It has since become the best-selling NA brand in the country.
“That’s not a one-year play,” Cahill said of Heineken Silver’s launch budget. “That’s a multiyear investment, because bringing that brand to that scale in that segment of the market, which is so enormous, is a massive, massive opportunity.”
The company’s priorities for 2023 include Heineken Silver, Heineken 0.0 and Heineken original, Timoney and Cahill said. Heineken Premium Light, which was introduced in 2005, will remain in key markets where it has “an incredibly loyal consumer base,” including Massachusetts, New York and Hawaii, Cahill said. However, its new sibling will take higher priority.
“Heineken Light will continue because it has a constituent group of people who really like that brand, and it’s great for certain occasions, so it’s part of the family,” Cahill said. “But Silver obviously represents a long-term, materially significant opportunity.”