Beverages
SAB Dipping Further Into Craft Beer Market
SAB set to offer speciality beers in limited quantities in the coming month.
South African Breweries (SAB), who holding a dominant share of the local beer market in the country, is clearly aware of the craft beer craze and has announced that it will be climbing aboard the bandwagon small-scale “speciality” craft brand that will launch this month.
According to Business Day, SAB said its new craft brand, No3 Fransen Street, would be distributed to only about 70 outlets in Gauteng, and would offer Cream Ale, Irish Red Ale and Krystal Weiss draughts.
The new No3 Fransen Street beers will be brewed SAB’s recently redeveloped Fransen Street Brewery in Gauteng on a seasonal basis. These will be distributed throughout Johannesburg and Pretoria.
SAB have dabbled in the brewing of craft beer, but only sold its small-batch speciality beers at festivals, and the company said they “have been welcomed by consumers, as well as retailers who have been asking SAB to provide the speciality beers to them on an ongoing basis”.
james
September 19, 2014 at 13:45
I don’t understand this whole major beer producers making “craft beers.” It makes absolutely no sense. First Guinness and now SAB. They are both mass producers of beer (on a global level) and now are creating “craft beer.” I just don’t get it. When I imagine craft beer producers, I see bearded men making small amount of beer that they sell locally or in a bar that only stocks there stuff. To me its beer that you kind of have to drink straight away because it doesn’t have all the preservatives that mass produced beers have. Beers that have particular flavours that may not have a mass appeal. Craft beers only have their relevence because mass produced beers like Castle Light, Guinness and Black Label exist. Now by creating a craft beer through a company that is trading at a mass level seems to be the opposite of what the craft scene is about.
Jeremy Proome
September 19, 2014 at 14:20
It’s true – it’s supposed to be about microbreweries – almost like a home-made concoction. However, from a business standpoint, its understandable why someone like SAB is keen on getting involved in the trend. Hopefully the integration of mass producers doesn’t take away the creativity of the craft beer market.
james
September 19, 2014 at 14:25
I just can’t see it being as succesful. I suppose it will create a market for people who want the experience of drinking a craft beer without spending +R40 a beer. So there I guess it makes sense, broadenning their product range within the mass market.
james
September 19, 2014 at 13:50
I’m sure any craft business owner would want to scale up and be able to trade at a level that could compete with a major manufacturer. Which makes it confusing for any major producer in wanting to scale down an aspect of there business to compete at a craft level. Which makes no sense, the major producers of beer have obviously seen a growth in a certain market that they want to monopolise on (never mind the fact that they have the lion’s share of the existing market). It makes whatever product they come up with a bit of a farce.
Jeremy Proome
September 19, 2014 at 14:22
Perhaps its somewhat of an experiment for SAB – working with a smaller scale production to allow for some more “edgy” beers. As they’ve done with festivals, they’ve always had their finger in the craft beer pie A LITTLE, but maybe now they see the big benefit and are embracing it.
james
September 19, 2014 at 14:28
What would be more interesting is if SAB partenered with existing craft breweries and helped them upscale their businesses. Almost like the idea behind the show “The Dragons den.”