by John Harrington
Coors Brewers hopes to exploit what it sees as the untapped potential for low-alcohol beer by spending £1m launching a 2% abv version of Carling.
The new draught-only beer, called C2, was rolled out in 3,500 pubs last month, including Brewers Fayre, Brewsters and Beefeater outlets.
The £1m support follows an investment of more than £2.5m in research and trials, demonstrating the brewer's faith in the market for low-alcohol beer.
Coors said that in Australia, sales of beers below 3.5% abv had doubled in the past decade, thanks to the success of brands such as Toohey's Blue (2.7% abv). Sub 3.5% abv beers in Australia currently account for more than one in four beers sold, Coors said. The figure in the UK is less than one in 200.
The brewer said that unlike other low or no-alcohol beers, where the alcohol is removed after brewing, C2 is brewed normally so retains its flavour and is drinkable. It added that extensive consumer trials revealed that 2% abv is the "magic level" at which the beer tasted good.
"We'd tried lots of different variations all based around the Carling recipe. When we brewed it to 2%, everything just seemed to fall into place," said Coors marketing director Mark Hunter. "It tastes like a proper pint, it has all the refreshment associated with Carling, but at a level where drinkers can pace themselves."
AC Nielsen consultant Graham Page called the move "brave" and "risky". He pointed out that a number of low-alcohol beers that were around in the 1980s and early 1990s had folded.
Coors said the launch of C2 was not in response to the Government's agenda of cutting binge drinking. "We've been working on this for 10 years," said Coors spokeswoman Bianca Shevlin.