Beer math | Schlafly releasing 16 oz cans in 12 packs, now my head hurts

Last weekend my beautiful wife attended her school’s annual auction.  I did not attend so I could stay home and drink beer. Had I known what beer they were serving, I would have attended.  And drank beer. Tall beer.

That’s because the party planners somehow got their hands on some early released 16-ounce cans featuring, her favorite Schlafly beer, White Lager. Today Schlafly Beer announced plans to release its first 12-pack beer offering of 16-ounce cans before the end of 2017.  The suggested retail price for the 12-pack is $14.99–the line price of the brewery’s 12-ounce, 12-pack offerings.

Founding Brewer Stephen Hale explains, “The consumer is essentially getting four beers free. Our White Lager is extremely sessionable, and we’ve seen a great response from the craft beer enthusiast to the craft beer novice. With its high drinkability and mass appeal, it made sense to roll out a larger-format offering of White Lager in cans.”

Big cans continue to gain appeal. According to Nielsen VP of Beverage Alcohol Practice, Danelle Kosmal, as told to Craft Business Daily, 16-ounce, 12-packs were up 60% in dollars in the craft segment, for the 52 weeks to 09/09 in Nielsen. Schlafly Beer re-entered the craft can market this April with 16-ounce cans of White Lager, Kölsch and Expo IPA beers, mostly for on-premise. Throughout the year, Schlafly Beer expanded into off-premise via single serve offerings.

Hale explains more, “Our single-serve, 16-ounce cans significantly helped with breaking into the C-store segment, and we expect the 12-pack offering to have the same results in smaller liquor stores and large regional grocery chains.” All canning and packaging takes place at Schlafly Beer’s Bottleworks facility.

Schlafly Beer developed White Lager as part of its Small Brews program, a weekly experimental brewing day at the Bottleworks location on the brewery’s 20-gallon system. White Lager debuted in 2015 at Schlafly’s HOP in the City, the annual fall beer festival at the Tap Room location. Of the 40 styles of Schlafly Beer showcased at the event, White Lager was the first to run out, cuing the company to the beer’s potential in the wider marketplace. After its 2016 success as a seasonal release, the brewery added White Lager to its year-round portfolio in spring 2017. The beer has been recognized by several publications from Eater to All About Beer.

Tune in to Schlafly’s Facebook or Instagram pages on Monday, December 11 at 3 p.m to see a live presentation of all plans for the 2018 portfolio.