“Bigger is better” is the motto this year for Asheville, North Carolina-based Hi-Wire Brewing, and they have the cans to back it up.
Starting next week, Hi-Wire is ditching 12 oz. cans and will offer all of its beer in 16 oz. cans.
“It’s a big risk. Nobody else is really doing it around here,” Hi-Wire co-owner Chris Frosaker told Brewbound. “But we have the data from last year with just a few offerings showing that it works, and I think it’s gonna lead to a big year for us.”
Hi-Wire switched from 12 oz. to 16 oz. cans for two of its flagship beers in 2021: Hi-Pitch Mosaic IPA and Hi-Wire Lager. Available in 6-packs, the SKUs were line priced with the previous package format. Frosaker said the change was a huge success for both the brewery and its wholesalers.
“It’s an amazing data experiment,” he said. “Our points of distribution for Hi-Pitch and Lager didn’t really increase very much for 2021 versus 2020. That said, by changing to 16 oz. cans in the 6-pack format, our rate of sale went up 15%. So with just those same placements, people were pulling 15% more.”
The new format also gave retailers 10% more profit, according to Frosaker.
Hi-Wire is promoting the packaging change with a “Bigger is Better” campaign, launching January 13. Every 6- and 12-pack of Hi-Wire beer, including its seasonals and specialty beers, will be available in the larger cans, at “parity price, if 50 cents more, on shelf” compared to the traditional 12 oz. packaging.
“It’s funny when you first tell someone we’re doing it, especially wholesalers, because anything that’s new could be scary sometimes,” Frosaker said. “Once you show them the numbers, it’s kind of hard to argue with. That product pulls quicker than 12 oz. and then everyone’s making better margin — the wholesaler, and the retailer.”
The cans aren’t the only thing getting an upgrade in 2022. Hi-Wire is also adding new equipment to its production facility and opening three new taprooms this year.
In 2021, Hi-Wire increased production from 19,000 barrels to 23,500 barrels annually, according to Frosaker. Its distribution sales also increased +27% year-over-year through November 2021. With plans to hit 30,000 barrels in 2022 – plus the 33% increase in volume per can from the packaging change – Frosaker said new equipment for its Asheville production brewery was a natural next step.
Set to be completed in February, Hi-Wire is expanding its production capacity more than 30%, to 40,000 barrels, by adding “seven 90-barrel fermenters, one 90-barrel brite tank, a second grain silo, a new grain out silo, and an automatic carton wrapper for packaging 12-packs,” according to a press release.
Hi-Wire is also installing a semi-automated 15-barrel brewhouse, as well as four new 15-barrel fermenters and two 7-barrel fermenters, to its South Slope specialty brewery in downtown Asheville. The equipment – which will expand capacity from 2,000 barrels to 6,000 barrels annually – will replace the location’s original brewhouse, which was first used by Highland Brewing when it opened in 1994. The brewhouse will be “permanently enshrined” at Hi-Wire’s RAD Beer Garden in Asheville, according to the release.
The expansion – scheduled to be completed at the end of February – will also allow for taproom-exclusive beers at the location, including Japanese Dry Rice Lager, which was released last week.
Other innovation focuses for the year include Mountain Water – a lemon-lime flavored ale launched this week that the brewery hopes will appeal to hard seltzer drinkers. The beer, which checks in at 5% ABV and contains 110 calories per 12 oz. serving, will be Hi-Wire’s third priority for 2022 behind Hi-Pitch (No. 1) and Low Pitch hazy IPA (No. 2). Frosaker said the fourth priority will be Pink Lemonade, a “bright pink,” tart session sour brewed with lemongrass and raspberries. The 4.2% ABV beer launched as a limited offering in April 2020.
Additionally, Hi-Wire will be opening three new taprooms this year in Charlotte, North Carolina (opening in May); Cincinnati, Ohio (opening in December); and a yet-to-be-announced location that Frosaker said should open in September or October.
The brewery opened three new locations over the last 13 months: taprooms in Louisville, Kentucky and Wilmington, North Carolina, and a hybrid distribution center and beer garden in Asheville.
“We really believe in this model that we start selling beer wholesale in a market and things are going good, they’re feeling good, we like the town, [then] we should explore putting a retail location there,” Frosaker said. “When we do that, we see our wholesale sales just skyrocket.”
Frosaker pointed to the success of the Wilmington location as an example of the company’s strategy paying off, noting that distribution in the area – which he said is one of the brewery’s oldest markets – increased more than 100% in 2021 after the taproom opened.
“It allows us to put our roots down,” he added. “People can experience our brand firsthand, come into our spaces, try all of our specialty products and it really resonates. We kind of view that wholesale-taproom model as feeding each other and growing.”