Special agent
You worked with Heineken when they made the decision to move brewing operations out of England back to Holland, as well as the change in ABV to five per cent. How big a risk was this at the time?
Heineken felt it had been caught out in the UK with the premium positioning of lager. So, despite selling 1.6 million hectolitres of Cold Filtered at that time the company took the decision to go in line with its global strategy, which was to export the lager at five per cent ABV from Holland. It was a very, very brave move. Giving up that amount of the market was quite a significant thing to do. But Heineken was also tapping into the growing popularity of imported beers.
What pushed you towards setting up Specialist Brand Development (SBD), a company solely focused on importing and distributing foreign beers?
The consumer is becoming more sophisticated when it comes to beer. There is increasing interest in authentic, imported lagers. We were seeing all this at the time when the big brewers were going one way (towards mass-market lagers) and the consumer was going another. While I was with Heineken I got to know some good overseas brewers like Paulaner, Cruzcampo and Fruli and it went from there.
What brands did you start with?
We started out with Affligem, Paulaner, Cruzcampo and Fruli and all of them, bar Cruzcampo, had never been in the UK market before. I remember Grand Metropolitan used to offer something called Beers of the World - but for that company it was pretty much a matter of throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. With SBD it is much more about developing a portfolio of beers. We have a wheat beer, a blonde beer, a fruit beer. With lager we wanted a point of difference so we went for Paulaner, which is Munich-style lager (non-pilsner). So we have built up this portfolio, offering a lot of it on draught as well as bottles.
How hard was it setting up on your own?
My working life up to that time had always been about big corporations so starting up a small business was quite a challenge. In fact it was a very taxing variety of challenges and tasks. We basically had to start from scratch with no distribution anywhere. But now retailers are realising the benefits of imported beers from their own research so we are pushing on an open door in some ways. And this is a particular opportunity for us because the big brewers, bar InBev, are not that focused on this part of the market.
What brands have really captured people's imaginations?
Fruli is probably the most unusual product of ours that has caught on. Fruit beer is still a small category and we are finding more and more that there are people who are fanatical about that beer - they have websites set up talking about the beer, where you can buy it! In a sense there is a similarity with the explosion in cider - people are looking for more unusual long drinks; something less bitter with fruity flavours.
Why do you think British drinkers are getting more interested in imported beers?
UK drinkers are, in a sense, very cosmopolitan. They will drink product from anywhere in the world just so long as they feel they have a good reason to. The beer market is different in the UK to anywhere else I know because there is just such a focus on the big mass market brand and smaller niche products. And that is where we come in.
We are tapping into what the consumer wants as well as what many of the retailers want. You need to have a point of difference away from the big five standard lagers. If we'd done it 10 years ago we might have struggled more. Now the retailers are already tapping into this - look at Mitchells & Butlers with its Castle pubs.
It's my round what are you drinking?
I'd love another Bavarian wheat beer - either an Erdinger or Schneider-Weiss.
CV:
2003 - Set up Specialist Brand Development2000 - Appointed consultant for Heineken1994 - Launched Hoegaarden into the UK1992 - Launched Leffe into UK1990 - Joined Interbrew to run London office1987 - Promoted to run European divisionMid-1980s - joined Courage to run take home division
