InBev to spend £50m on Artois Brasserie

InBev UK is spending £50m this year on a revamp of its Artois lager portfolio.

A new font, new brand and new glassware will all hit the on-trade in the next four months, under the umbrella brand name Brasserie Artois.

Next month a new two-tap Brasserie Artois font serving both Stella Artois and Artois Bock will be rolled out into pubs and bars, as part of a roll-out which will see 8,000 fonts converted this year.

The font incorporates a variable tap control, enabling bar staff to create the perfect head as well as reducing wastage.

A four-tap version of the font will be unveiled from July, allowing four beers to be served side by side. And at the same time InBev will launch Peeterman Artois, a four per cent ABV wheat beer brewed with wheat, barley malt and coriander, to sit alongside Stella and Bock.

This will be the third addition to the Artois family of beers, all taken from historic recipes recently discovered at the Leuven brewery in Belgium. It follows the launch of Artois Bock, a 6.2 per cent lager in May last year.

And InBev UK has not ruled out the addition of more beers to add to the Artois family in the coming months.

Steve Kitching, managing director of on-trade sales, said Brasserie Artois was about bringing "much-needed impetus" to the beer category.

"What consumers want and when they want it has been changing; they are increasingly looking for a better quality experience, they're willing to indulge themselves more often but aren't willing to pay for a product unless they know it will deliver," he declared.

"Brasserie Artois will drive the value of beer sales by enabling retailers to offer a range of premium beer styles that cater for a broader variety of drinking occasions, with the reassurance of Stella Artois."