New Coors ale in Scottish market

Coor Brewers is set to take on the established heavyweights of the Scottish ale market with the surprise launch this summer of Maclachlan's Best, a 3.6 per cent ABV creamflow beer.

The ale market is in long-term decline in Scotland, but according to Paul Miller, who heads up Coors across the country, the brand will be in the market segment which is performing best.

Coors' Carling lager launched from a standing start in Scotland four years ago this month and is now reckoned to be selling around half a million pints annually.

However, industry observers suggest the ale category is a much trickier proposition. When Scottish Brewers launched hybrid ale McEwan's SPA in 2000 it failed to make headway. More recently the firm axed the cask version of its McEwan's ale brand.

Based on a historic ale portfolio Maclachlan's Best hopes to tap into the 'heritage' of the name - much as the former Bass did with Caffrey's hybrid ale - to give it credibility with drinkers of established rivals John Smith's, Belhaven Best and Tennent's Velvet.

Former Scottish Brewers managing director Brian Sharp, an ales development expert who now heads up Scottish & Newcastle's Asian sales operation, told The Publican: "The market is certainly in decline in Scotland, but I would say 'best of luck to them', because there's always room in the market for innovation, and in fact it helps the whole category."

He said to succeed it would have to be "a fantastic new product" backed by substantial investment.

However, while Miller conceded ale sales were still falling, he said creamflows were in slowest decline and that ale's overall share of the market still sat at 25 per cent.

He added: "Extensive trialling has shown there is demand for more choice, and we're confident this is the right move - it also allows us to offer a balanced portfolio to customers in Scotland.