Lawson’s Finest Liquids is continuing to build its Sunshine family. The latest addition to the family is Hazy Rays IPA, a 5.3% New England IPA, available starting this week in 16 oz. can 4-packs, 12 oz. can 12-packs and on draft across the company’s nine-state footprint.
Lawson’s founder Sean Lawson told Brewbound that the launch is off to a hot start as the brewery has “already produced about three times as much as we initially projected for the first month based on the wholesaler demand for this beer.”
Within the Sunshine family of beers, Hazy Rays fills the role of the lowest ABV family member. Lawson called it an “anytime” beer that is “very approachable.” The beer will replace Super Session IPA (4.8% ABV) in the line up, with the beer being phased out now in 4-packs and after this summer 12-packs.
Hazy Rays boasts a “fruit-forward profile, with a lot of juiciness in the flavor,” Lawson said, adding the beer has “a whole host of different orange citrus-type flavors,” including clementine, mandarin orange, and navel. Its hop profile includes Mandarina Bavaria and Citra, which Lawson described as “the star of the party” in all Sunshine beers.
“We’re hoping that will help draw and attract some beer drinkers maybe that either aren’t that familiar with our brand, or we haven’t been making a style that speaks directly to them,” he said.
Building a Sunshine Family
Hazy Rays joins a Sunshine family that has grown from flagship Sip of Sunshine (8% ABV) to include Little Sip (6.2% ABV), Double Sunshine Ruby Red Grapefruit (8% ABV) and Triple Sunshine (10.5% ABV).
“The vision of the Sunshine family is really to include a variety of beers that appeal to different occasions and different beer drinkers and different times.”
Brand families often lead to variety 12-packs, but that packaging configuration isn’t in Lawson’s immediate future. Although wholesalers ask about a variety pack “all the time,” Lawson explained that the company’s commitment to freshness and cold chain distribution makes a mixed pack a difficult proposition.
“Our freshness code for our IPAs and hop-forward beers is 60 days,” he said. “We’ve found that doing a variety pack is one of those challenges that is much harder to achieve that sort of freshness state, because you’ve got to have different beers that are packaged at different times and just the assembly of those packages is pretty challenging.”
Nevertheless, Lawson won’t rule out a variety pack down the road. Plus, he sees an opportunity to add at least one more member in the Sunshine family, with an imperial version of Hazy Rays in the 8-9% ABV range.
Lawson’s will test a yet-to-be-named hazy imperial IPA in September and October as part of its limited-release lineup, Lawson said. Expect the beer to be similar to Hazy Rays albeit with a slightly different hop and ingredient profile.
Lawson’s Projects High Single-Digit Growth; Sip of Sunshine 19.2s Incoming
After finishing 2022 “flat from a revenue standpoint” with volume down “slightly” by “a couple of percent,” Lawson’s is projecting a growth year in 2023.
2022 “was a little bit less profitable” for the company due to the cost side of the business being “really challenging,” with increased costs for labor, ingredients, aluminum, cardboard, etc. Price increases helped offset some of the costs “but certainly not all of them,” Lawson said.
In off-premise retailers in 2022, the Lawson’s portfolio increased dollar sales +4.4% and case sales +1%, according to Bump Williams Consulting, citing data from market research firm NIQ (formerly NielsenIQ). Off-premise sales of flagship Sip of Sunshine declined -1.5%, while case sales declined -4.7% last year, the firm added. Those losses were offset by the growth of Little Sip, which increased sales +7.5% and case sales +3%, Bump Williams Consulting shared.
However, Lawson’s is off to “a good start” in Q1, with positive volume growth momentum and at-the-brewery sales are up double digits, Lawson said.
“We’re pretty optimistic that we will grow nicely, maybe high single digits this year for volume,” he added.
Expected to help drive that growth this year will be the addition of 19.2 oz. single-serve cans of flagship Sip of Sunshine IPA. The first run of cans are expected to roll off the line in the next couple of weeks.
“Convenience is a segment for us that is also growing with our brands quite a bit,” Lawson said. “So we’re launching that beer at grocery, convenience and other locations where 19.2s are sold, such as venues. Certainly, we’re hopeful that that’ll be a nice add to the lineup and to our volume this year as well.”
Lawson also credited sales director Seth Talman with building new relationships and placements with chain and grocery stores such as Hannaford, Global Grocery Market and Giant.