After a sweetly successful launch last year, D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc. and The Hershey Company are back with another release of Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter.
This year, the beer, a collaboration between two Pennsylvania brands with a combined three-century history, will be available throughout Yuengling’s 22-state footprint on draft and in 6- and 12-pack bottles for the first time.
“Last year we were overwhelmed by the excitement and passion expressed by our fans for our first-ever collaboration beer,” Yuengling vice president of operations Jennifer Yuengling said in a press release. “We heard our fans and saw consumers, near and far, scrambling to get their hands on a taste of Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter.
“So, in keeping with our 191-year tradition of listening to our loyal fans, we decided to release our Chocolate Porter across our entire footprint and in bottles for even more consumers 21+ to enjoy,” she continued.
Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter checks in at 4.7% ABV and will be in market from Halloween through Valentine’s Day, two key chocolate holidays. Its base is Yuengling’s Dark Brewed Porter, a 200-year-old recipe.
The beer’s 2019 release was only on draft and available in just 14 states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington, D.C. In 2020, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina will receive it as well.
“We’re happy to work with Yuengling to expand the availability of the chocolate porter and, better yet the Yuengling Hershey’s chocolate porter is available in bottles for the first time,” Hershey’s senior director of global licensing Ernie Savo said in the release. “Now our fans will be able to enjoy this one-of-a-kind beer collaboration in the comfort of their homes.”
With no end in sight for capacity restrictions placed on on-premise venues due to the COVID-19 pandemic in many states, adding a packaged option makes sense. And, with a severe can shortage nationwide, bottles are the most practical option.
Yuengling isn’t the only regional craft brewer teaming up with a local non-beer brand. Last month, Boston-based Harpoon Brewery debuted a variety pack of coffee- and donut-infused beers brewed in collaboration with Dunkin’ Donuts, which is headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts.
Earlier this month, Yuengling and Molson Coors Beverage Company announced a joint venture in which Molson Coors will manufacture and sell Yuengling’s products in the 25 western states where the Pottsville, Pennsylvania-based company does not distribute. However, that roll out is expected to be slow, starting in 2021.
Year-to-date through early September, Yuengling’s sales in off-premise multi outlet grocery, mass merchant retail and convenience stores are up 3.5% over the same time period last year, to $273 million, according to market research firm IRI. Yuengling’s off-premise sales have accelerated since the pandemic began, as its 52-week dollar sales are up 0.8%.
Sales of craft porters have declined 1.7% year-to-date, to $27.8 million, compared to last year, according to IRI. However, the style began to rebound as fall seasonals rolled out; dollar sales of craft porters were up 2.2% in the four weeks that ended September 6.