Article from Brewbound.com
The population of Flavortown just increased by three.
Stratford, Connecticut-based Two Roads Brewing has added three new iterations of the Flavortown Spiked flavored malt beverage (FMB) line it brews in collaboration with celebrity chef Guy Fieri.
“You can’t have just one flavor in Flavortown, so we’re goin’ big with three new out-of-this world spiked beverages made with real fruit and crafted to showcase a bold new take on some of my favorite punch and tea recipes,” Fieri told Brewbound via a spokesperson.
“The team at Two Roads Brewing Co. and I tasted round after round to get the final recipes just right and we landed on a great combination of fruit, a hint of sweetness, and real-deal flavor in every can,” he continued.
The line’s debut offering, Flavortown Spiked Fruit Punch, rolled out last November in 12 oz. can 6-packs. Now, the punch will join three siblings in a variety 8-pack:
- Tiki Town Tropical Punch, which is “inspired by classic tropical cocktails – and Guy’s own tiki bar” and “crafted with real passion fruit, orange and mango juices;”
- Fiddy Fiddy, an iced tea/lemonade hybrid that takes its name from the “Fidddy” license plate on the convertible Fieri drives on his Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives;
- And Tangerine-N-Tea, “a TNT twist on the average hard tea.”
Each new Flavortown Spiked offering checks in at 6% ABV and features “real fruit juices, better ingredients and bold flavors,” according to a press release. Fiddy Fiddy and Tangerine-N-T are brewed with a blend of Kenyan and Chilean teas.
The Flavortown Spiked variety pack has rolled out to Two Roads’ full 13-state footprint (Maine to Virginia) and “more states and more chains will be coming online in the coming weeks,” Two Roads CEO Brad Hittle told Brewbound. The Carolinas, Georgia and Florida are targeted for expansion, Hittle said in the fall.
Each variety 8-pack will feature two cans each of Flavortown Spiked Fruit Punch, Tiki Town Tropical Punch, Fiddy-Fiddy and Tangerine-N-Tea. No new flavors have been selected as single-serve offerings yet, but Hittle said that’s “certainly a possibility.”
“We love to hear from fans what they want to see from us next, so as we start hearing from consumers which flavors they’re gravitating towards, we’ll continue to look for incremental opportunities for SKU growth,” he said.
So far, Flavortown Spiked Fruit Punch has been a hit. Its 6-pack will be joined by a 19.2 oz. single-serve can, following the variety pack rollout.
“While we’re early in the game, the signs are very encouraging,” Hittle said. “Velocity and distribution trends so far lead us to forecast 40,000-50,000 cases for the year, just in our existing 13-state footprint.”
Events factor prominently in Flavortown Spiked’s marketing strategy The new flavors and variety pack will be served at Guy’s Flavortown Tailgate, a free tailgate party sponsored by Pepsi on Sunday, February 11, in Las Vegas hours before Super Bowl LVIII kicks off at Allegiant Stadium.
Two Roads will host a kickoff party at the brewery this summer and the brand could be included in Guy’s Flavortown Fest, a food and music festival taking place June 1-2 in Columbus, Ohio.
The brand will run a summer sweepstakes with a grand prize of joining Fieri behind the scenes as he films one of his many TV shows, Hittle siad.
The can 8-pack format is popular for spirits-based, ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails, but isn’t as widely used in the beer category, giving Flavortown Spiked a point of differentiation at retail. The configuration accounted for 0.96 sharepoints of beer category dollar sales at multioutlet grocery, convenience and liquor stores tracked by NIQ in 2023, according to NIQ data provided by 3 Tier Beverages.
Dollar sales of can 8-packs lost -0.06 sharepoints and declined -4.4%, to $468.1 million.
With Fiddy-Fiddy and Tangerine-N-Tea, Flavortown Spiked wades into the increasingly crowded hard tea/lemonade subsegment, which has recorded dollar sales gains of +19.4%, to $1.69 billion, in the 52 weeks ending January 21, at multioutlet grocery, retail and convenience stores tracked by market research firm Circana. There are 324 active UPCs in the segment, according to Circana.
Overall FMBs recorded the second highest dollar sales growth in the beer category in 2023, increasing +17%, behind only non-alcoholic beer (+29.3%). FMBs accounted for 9.53% of all beer category dollars in 2023, according to Circana. The segment increased volume +13% year-over-year.