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Beer is the obvious choice for pairing with many types of Asian cuisine, and is also at the top of the list alcoholic beverages for many Americans. With so much competition in the market, many beer companies have been scrambling for new ideas to win customers’ favor. Some companies have been focusing on creating healthier, low-carb, low-calorie beer while others have created entirely new brands and products, such as fruity malt drinks and organic pale ales. Light beer now has about 49 percent of the market and is considered the “standard” beer, according to the trade newsletter Beer Marketer's Insights.
Packaging has also been a fashionable alternative for recent changes in advertising campaigns. Budweiser brands are now available in new aluminum bottles, which are a combination of a can and a glass bottle. Heineken has produced the keg can, which allows people to have “draft” beer at home. Coors has created a cooler box that comes with 18-ounce plastic bottles and is ready to be filled with ice. Other companies, such as Tsingtao, have decided to update and modernize the design of their packaging to be more enticing to today’s beer drinkers.
While domestic beers in the U.S. have dropped by 1.2 percent, imported beers have increased by 7.2 percent, according to the Industry Update from the Beer Institute. Imported beers are approximately 12.4 percent of the total U.S. beer market, and have experienced an average growth rate of 5 percent over the past five years. They are now one of the fastest-growing segments in the U.S. beer market, according to the Department of Commerce.
Asian beers have gained a much higher status in the U.S. Japanese beers such as Sapporo, Kirin, and Asahi, all famous for their crisp, dry lagers are also becoming fast favorites. Sapporo has become the best-selling Asian beer in the United States. “What's done it for us is the packaging,” says Bob Small, Regional Sales Manager for Sapporo USA. “Our unique packaging has allowed us to get shelf space and outsell the other Japanese beers across the country. It's also the only U.S.-sold Japanese beer that's still made in Japan.”
Kirin's beers have become the standard fare in U.S. Japanese restaurants and are becoming more accessible to the general public because of distribution through Anheuser-Busch, with Ichiban Shibori being the best seller. Asahi is most well known in the U.S. for introducing dry beer, which is less sweet than regular beer, and has very little aftertaste. Singha Beer, who recently celebrated its 30th anniversary in the U.S., is the best-selling Thai beer in the nation.
With over 800 breweries, China is the second leading producer of beer in the world, with the United States hot on its trail. So it comes as no surprise that beers imported from China, such as Tsingtao, Tiger Beer, and Yanjing, are becoming increasingly more popular across the nation. Tsingtao's market share in the U.S. is more than 95 percent of all Chinese beer, according to Monarch Imports CEO, Jim Ryan. Accounting for 90 percent of China’s beer imports, it is now actually easier to find Tsingtao in the United States than in China. Yanjing Beer came to the U.S. in 2000 and is already distributed in 20 different states.
Flavor is another aspect of the beer industry’s new experimentations. Anheuser-Busch has come out with B-to-the-E and Tilt, both of which are sweet beverages, with caffeine, ginseng, and guarana. Additionally, they have created Bud Select, a light beer with a more robust taste, Peels, a malt beverage made with all-natural fruit, and Michelob Ultra Amber, a low-carb, low-calorie amber beer.
Another avenue beer companies are choosing to explore is partnerships with other brands and breweries. For example, Anheuser-Busch, the U.S. beer industry’s top company, showed decreases in sales of many of their top-selling brands. In order to combat these statistics, the company is in the process of testing new ideas and has made a number of partnerships with other leading beer companies. Anheuser-Busch partnered up with Kirin back in 1997, and as of May 1 of this year, with Tiger Beer. The new partnership gives Tiger Beer access to Anheuser-Busch’s marketing expertise and distribution system, which is considered the to be the best in the U.S.
“Tiger Beer is recognized as one of Asia’s finest beer exports,” said August A. Busch IV, president of Anheuser-Busch Inc. “Tiger Beer is a high-quality, premium brand that is a perfect complement to our growing portfolio of import beers.” Representatives from both companies agree that the partnership will be beneficial and compatible with the needs of each. “We share the same views on how the brand should be marketed and positioned in the vast American beer market, and most importantly, Anheuser-Busch shares our passion and excitement for our brand,” said Mr. Koh Poh Tiong, chief executive officer of brand owner of Tiger Beer, Asia Pacific Breweries. “We believe that together with Anheuser-Busch, we shall be able to bring Tiger to another level of growth in the U.S. market.” Also using the Asian beer trend to broaden their horizons, Miller Brewing Company bought 2.5 percent of Asahi Beer USA, Inc., which is brewed and distributed by Molson.
According to beer expert Nick Lake from the marketing information company ACNielson, people are finally buying more beer. He says that after idling for the past couple of years, beer sales have shown steady increases. The trend is that craft beers and imports are driving the growth for the industry. It seems that what Americans want most of all is more choices and variety when it comes to beer.
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