Greene King's fruitful launch of Old Mout cider on draught

Heineken is launching a draught version of its Old Mout Berries & Cherries cider (4% ABV), as it looks to tap into demand for flavoured cider.

The demand for a new flavour on draught is in response to a "growing demand" from consumers.

The brewer said this week that the fruit flavour, the first Old Mout variant to be available on draught, will launch in January 2019.

Sales boom

Following its successful pilot this summer, the brand was rolled out to more than 100 of the Greene King's managed pubs, selling over 150,000 pints this summer alone.

Greene King’s Calum Cameron said it started trialling Old Mout Berries & Cherries cider on draught in December to test whether it would perform well in the colder months.

“We are very pleased with the performance, we’ve sold well over 150,000 pints this summer, surpassing our expectations and targets,” he said.

“Market share of fruit cider has grown from 0% to around 30% over the past 10 years.

“We’re seeing a very positive trend and it was clear that consumers were switching to fruit cider as a category and we’re keen to explore it further.”

Huge demand

Old Mout’s Emma Sherwood-Smith echoed his enthusiasm.

“Premium flavoured cider is in huge demand and, until now, there wasn’t an option for consumers to have this on draught,” she said.

“Following the successful trial with Greene King over the past year, we’ve been delighted with the sales and feedback of consumers and are looking forward to rolling out to the wider trade in early 2019.”