BEER ONBOARD
I
n a blog on
craftbeer.com, Julia Herz of the US-based Brewers Association bemoans the lack of beer choice onboard airlines, citing a prevalence of big brands and similar styles. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with those beers, of course, it’s just some passengers would appreciate greater diversity, with different beer styles sourced from different brewers. “Diversity is not accomplished by just carrying multiple brands of one particular beer style or by carrying multiple brands and styles from one parent company,” says Herz. She is certainly not alone in this opinion, but the fact is that economics pose a problem. Relatively few breweries can deliver the volumes required by enormous international airlines and, naturally, those same ‘big boys’ have considerably greater sales and distribution powers than the many smaller players in the market. “Airlines that transport millions of passengers each month don’t want any issues,” says Raymond Kollau of
airlinetrends.com, “and they want to negotiate volume discounts too”. So it is that most aircraft trolleys are
stocked with beers from the likes of AB InBev (which is responsible for over 200 brands, including Budweiser and Stella Artois), MillerCoors (which counts Miller, Coors, Fosters and Peroni among its many brands) and Heineken (which also produces Amstel and Tiger, among numerous others). “The world beer market continues
to grow and consumer demands are evolving in different markets,” says Sean McNaughten, manager global duty free at Heineken. “Many con- sumers are seeking to trade-up and also want to experience a broader repertoire of brands, including not only international premium brands but also local brands too.” But as Ron Schroeder, director of
travel retail and leisure at MillerCoors explains, airlines don't always have the capacity for a broad selection of beers. “When you’re at 35,000ft with little space onboard you can only give customers a limited choice and it
needs to be what they want. The fact is that Miller Lite, Coors Light and Bud Light account for half the US market.” These are readily available global beer brands that are best-sellers among consumers – so why would airlines offer anything else? Because palates are changing, the ‘craft’ beer industry is growing and ales are in the ascendency. They are pieces of a jigsaw that leave ‘hop heads’ clamouring for more choice and diversity on airlines. However, the smaller breweries and
brands that can satisfy this demand face several challenges when it comes to getting their beers onboard. Beside limited supply and distribution, craft beers and ales often have a premium price tag attached and, furthermore, smaller brewers – and larger ones, for that matter – don’t always offer their beers in cans. Airlines prefer cans to glass bottles because they are lighter, safer and easier to store, but ‘can snobbery’ remains widespread. Breweries say it can affect taste and that it’s simply not as stylish as bottles. The Boston Beer Company reportedly spent two years and a million dollars developing a can – the ‘Sam can’ – that it was finally happy with (see p.34 for more).
"Airlines prefer cans to glass bottles because they are lighter, safer and easier to store, but ‘can snobbery’ remains widespread among breweries"
“Many airlines are turning every
screw to keep costs low,” says Kollau, “and they know that offering an artisan beer onboard won’t translate to an increase in revenues.” Nevertheless, airlines are paying attention to what MillerCoors’
Schroeder calls a ‘craft beer explosion’ and smaller, more flexible carriers are ushering it onboard. Even the major flag carriers are taking note: three years ago MillerCoors
responded to
demand for ‘craft in a can’ by launching its Blue Moon
Belgian-style beer in 12oz cans for the aviation market. Some might
Pictured above: Hops, one of the four ingredients of beer Pictured right: A MillerCoors brand, Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy will be available in cans for airlines from next summer
argue that Blue Moon is now too big to be labelled a craft beer – and that its MillerCoors ownership prevents it from being so – but others
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© HEINEKEN
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