Genuine Imported Beers: Import it

Genuine imported beers are all set to fulfill their potential in 2005. Adam Withrington explains how and introduces us to NOFIBS.

It has been touted as the next big thing in the beer market for some time now, but it finally seems as though 2005 will be the year when genuine imported beers fulfill their potential. Last year Colin Pedrick, managing director of on-trade sales at Interbrew UK, said that genuine imported and speciality beers had the potential to become the flagship of the UK beer market, underpinned by the fact that the category has been growing 17 times faster than the British beer market across the last four years.

"This year I'm expecting this potential to take a big leap towards being realised," he says. Interbrew plans to invest over £1m in the sector in 2005.

Genuine imports are the big story of the beer market at the moment. The latest AC Nielsen statistics on the market, pulled together in September 2004, show that genuine imports are bucking the trend of falling premium lager sales. While volumes of premium packaged lagers fell by seven per cent, there was a 16 per cent growth in genuine imports. It is a category on the move and currently stands out favourably against those brands that are brewed in the UK under licence.

In 2004 Budweiser Budvar commissioned some research with CGA Centro to look into what was happening in the marketplace. The results that came back showed that the foreign lager market was moving in two directions:

• Growth for brands brewed under licence was either pretty flat or was actually falling
• Imported brands were in substantial growth.

The brewed at source versus brewed under licence debate has become a battleground in the beer market over recent years.

Brewers such as Charles Wells believe such is the technology available that they can brew foreign lagers with great skill and success. One only has to look at the success the Bedford brewer has had with Red Stripe and Kirin to see its point.

However, UK representatives who import brands directly from source are getting increasingly upset at the way some beers brewed in the UK are muscling in on their territory.

"The fact is there is a lot of misinformation out there," says Richard Bradbury, on-trade sales director at Heineken UK. "Many brewers that brew premium lager in the UK are keen to wrap up their beers in continental imagery."

John Harley, managing director of Budvar UK, agrees. "There is a lot of misdirection in the trade about where a beer is from. If beers carried the same information as wine then people could make a more informed decision about what they were buying. It stops consumers being hoodwinked."

While advertisements for many of the big lager brands all state that they are brewed in this country, ask the man or woman on the street where they are brewed and it is highly unlikely they will say the UK. The impression formed is that they are brewed abroad.

As a result, several brands and drinks importers have come together and formed their own trade organisation: the National Organisation for Imported Beers (NOFIBS).

We are surely now at a stage where it is safe to say that genuine imported beers form a sector in their own right.

The huge rise in sales figures speaks for itself, anecdotal evidence suggests consumers are seeking out authentic imported brands and from March this year the sector will have its own trade organisation looking out for its interests.

Over the next few pages we will see many of the beers that make up this category, looking particularly at the North American market and after that focusing on what is most important - how you as retailers make the most of this opportunity.

History​ John Harley: "I first thought of the NOFIBS idea a couple of years ago. I had meetings with a few people on names and logos for such an organisation. But then time went on and it was left alone.

"However, it all cropped up again last year when I wrote a piece on the subject in the trade press and a lot of people showed interest in what I had said. So we set up a steering group to sort out the preliminaries and are now ready to have our first major meeting with all interested parties."

• Chairman​ - John Harley
• Secretary​ - Phillip Parker (formerly of Ubevco)
• First major meeting​ - March 2
• Website address​ - www.nofibs.co.uk (not live yet)

Aims of NOFIBS​

• To act as a consumer pressure group on imported beers
• To give consumers access to the facts on imported (or not) beers
• To define the sector for the trade
• To undertake research on the sector
• To give advice to the trade on how best to present genuine imports to the consumer.

More on Genuine Imported Beers:​

• Sources:​ Which countries does the UK import from? Click hereto find out.
• US beers:​ American craft beers and increasingly popular - click here.
• Retailing:​ If customers are forking out for an imported beer, make sure it's served properly - click hereto find out more.
• Retailing:​ Click hereto find out about the Kent pub that has tapped into customers' enthusiasm for beer from across the world.
• Range:​ Don't be afraid to broaden the variety that you stock - click herefor some advice.