Schilling Cider continues to grow, despite abstaining from adding new markets for the immediate future, and making just one distribution change in 2023.
The Seattle-based hard cider company is now the No. 1 hard cider in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon and Idaho), increasing dollar sales +29% year-over-year (YoY) in the region, according to Schilling EVP of marketing Rachel Thomas, citing Circana multi-outlet and convenience data through November 5.
October – also National Cider Month – was the best month in Schilling’s history, with total dollar sales up +24% versus October 2022. In the four-week period ending November 5, Schilling increased dollar sales in the West by +33.9% YoY, “6X the dollar growth of the next highest cider brand,” Thomas told Brewbound via email.
“The really exciting part has been seeing that we are continuing to really grow in our home markets, which doesn’t always happen,” Schilling CCO Eric Phillips told Brewbound.
Schilling dollar sales over the last 52 weeks (ending December 3) are now up +27.6% YoY in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels, while volume has grown +25%, according to data shared by 3 Tier Beverages. While the percentage gains are slightly below what the company posted in 2022, Schilling has added more cases in 2023 than 2022, and the growth has been more consistent than in the past, Phillips said.
Schilling’s growth has been driven by the Excelsior brand family, its line of imperial hard ciders ranging from 8.4% to 9.1% ABV. Original Apple (8.4% ABV), the first Excelsior release, has increased dollar sales +16.8% YoY and volume +14.7% in NIQ-tracked channels over the last 52 weeks, with more than $8.9 million in dollar sales.
Close behind is Excelsior Mango Supernova (9.1% ABV), the first addition to the lineup, which has increased dollar sales +43.8% YoY, to more than $7 million, and volume +42.8%. Excelsior Pineapple (8.4%) was added this year, and is now the company’s No. 3 brand in NIQ-tracked channels, with nearly $2.3 million in dollar sales over the last 52 weeks. A fourth offering, Excelsior Apple Pie (8.4%), was added this fall.
The new items have been adding “a significant amount of dollars to the entire West,” and will be a continued focus for Schilling in 2024, Phillips said.
But the company isn’t solely focused on high ABV. Schilling has its sights set on the other end of the spectrum, and will launch a non-alcoholic (NA) cider in 2024.
Ground Control (0.0% ABV), will be launched in January under the Excelsior name, continuing the brand’s space theme, and serving as a play on the need for someone “on the ground” to be alert and ready for all space needs. The first flavor will be Cherry, and will be packaged in 12 oz. can 6-packs.
“We said ‘OK, how do we stick with the apple theme with the things that we do best and make it super authentic and super compelling?’” Schilling co-founder and CEO Colin Schilling told Brewbound. “So what we did is we took inspiration from shrub cocktails.”
Schilling fans have been asking for a cherry product “for years,” but any R&D projects were tossed away due to the effect fermentation – required for hard cider – has on cherry’s flavor, Schilling added.
Ground Control is a “cider infusion” with apple cider vinegar and cherry, rather than a dealcoholized version of an existing Schilling hard cider, and has a “beautiful bouquet of aromas and flavors, but also has that adult beverage flavor profile from the drinking vinegar,” Schilling said.
The product will also be line-priced with other non-alcoholic cider offerings, below Schilling’s typical hard cider prices, a choice that Schilling wanted to be very intentional about, as Ground Control has no alcohol and thus no excise tax.
“It allowed us to use really high quality ingredients, but because we’re not paying tax on it, excise tax, we can provide a lower price to the consumer,” Schilling said.
Schilling also wanted to be sensitive to the economic climate, as well as any cannibalization of existing Schilling products.
“We’re also prepared for the reality that we may see a little bit of economic recession this year, and if people are pinching pennies, they’re not going to necessarily pay alcohol prices for non-alc as easily as they would in a non-penny-pinching time period,” Schilling said. “We wanted to be really sensitive to that and kind of future proof for that.
“If you just make a copy of your existing product, you’re inherently picking one or the other,” he continued. “But this is an ‘and’ purchase. So it’s like, ‘Oh, I need a 12-pack of Excelsior OG and I want the non-alc to bring to this party.’”
Schilling will also be “reinvesting” in some of its core brands beyond Excelsior in 2024, including its year-round Legends of Cider series, highlighting the quirky cartoon characters that adorn its packaging. The series includes Moon Berries, a 5.2% ABV berry-flavored cider that launched this fall, featuring a purple-haired unicorn, and Local Legend, a 5.2% ABV semi-sweet hard cider, featuring a Big Foot-esque creature with sunglasses and a boombox. Additional innovation products will also be added in 2024.
The added investment “should bring growth to something that we just haven’t had bandwidth to focus on,” Phillips said. “And they’ve been these characters that people have really loved from the early days of Schilling.”
Local Legend is Schilling’s eighth-largest brand by dollar sales in NIQ-tracked channels over the last 52 weeks, increasing dollar sales +11.3% YoY, to more than $1.1 million.
Phillips and Schilling also spoke to Brewbound about the health of the overall cider segment, and the impact of National Cider Month. Catch up on that story here.
Earlier this fall, Thomas, Phillips and Schilling joined the Brewbound Podcast to discuss National Cider Month.