Leading beer brand Badger Beers is putting its award-winning Milk Made stout into 440ml cans in April, with listings secured in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons.
The move reflects the growing consumer demand for Milk Made since its exclusive online launch in 2020 in 500ml bottles, as well as increasing interest in dark beers.
Milk Made is the first stout in many years from independent family brewer Hall & Woodhouse, who have brewed Badger beers in Blandford, Dorset for more than 240 years. It won a Gold Medal in the prestigious International Brewing Awards in November last year.
Milk Made will be stocked in up to 250 Waitrose stores from April, followed in May with a listing in 60 Sainsbury’s branches, and selected Morrisons stores. The cans continue the impactful black-and-white design of the bottles, describing Milk Made as an ‘udderly indulgent’ milk stout, with chocolate, vanilla and coconut notes.
Matt Woodhouse, Drinks Marketing Manager at Badger Beers said: “We’re delighted to have secured listings with these leading supermarkets for Milk Made cans and expect other retailers to follow suit.
“Brewing a stout again was a departure from the traditional ales that the Badger brand was built on. Milk Made’s popularity has proved that was the right move and demonstrated we can be successful across the beer market.
“Similarly, by putting Milk Made into cans, we’re broadening our appeal to younger craft drinkers, bringing new consumers to the brand alongside our Badger loyalists.
He added: “Badger has been able to respond quickly to market trends, such as the growth of stouts, thanks to our talented brewing team, and to our structure: we’re a national brand with near-universal distribution, but we’re also a family business, able to make quick decisions. As a result, Badger has become the fourth fastest-growing brewer in the premium bottled ale sector.”
Stout is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the off-trade beer market, with volume sales up by 45% in the last two years (Nielsen MAT, 15 January 2022). Within stouts, innovative brands such as Milk Made are growing at twice the rate of the sector overall.
Milk Made is one of several contemporary beers launched in the last couple of years under an ambitious NPD programme to complement the core Badger Beers brand. Newer beers include Fropical Ferret, a fruity IPA; Twice Tangled, a double-hopped IPA; and a New England IPA, launched in autumn 2021, as the first beer in a new Small Batch Series from Hall & Woodhouse.
Milk Made cans will be available as individual cans with an RRP of £3.
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Notes to editors
- Badger Beers have been brewed in Blandford, Dorset since 1777 by independent regional family brewers, Hall & Woodhouse, who also own around 180 pubs across the south of England. The business is now under the stewardship of the seventh generation of the Woodhouse family.
- The Badger range of characterful, award-winning beers have widespread, nationa
l distribution, with listings in all major supermarkets and in thousands of independent grocery and specialist drinks stores, as well as with leading wholesalers and cash & carry outlets. - The Badger portfolio includes established, well-known ales including Golden Champion, Fursty Ferret and Tangle Foot, which are among the UK’s Top 10 fastest-growing PBA (premium bottled ale) brands.
- More recently, Hall & Woodhouse has embarked on an ambitious NPD programme, which, coupled with the expertise of their brewing team led by Master Brewer Toby Heasman, has resulted in new beers including Fropical Ferre
t, a fruity IPA; Twice Tangled, a double-hopped IPA; and Milk Maid, a milk stout with notes of chocolate, vanilla and coconut. A New England IPA, launched in autumn 2021, is the first beer in a new Small Batch Series from Hall & Woodhouse. - Badger Beers have won an impressive number of awards in UK and international beer competitions. In 2021 Golden Champion won a Silver medal in the World Beer Awards, while Fursty Ferret took Bronze in the same competition as well as in the Great Taste Awards. In the 20201 International Brewing Awards, Milk Made and cask ale Red Roaster took Gold medals, and a Silver went to Fursty Ferret.
- Badger Beers are proud of their Dorset heritage. Support for the local community includes sponsorship of the Dorset Wildlife Trust, the county’s nature conservation charity.
- Badger Beers was also a patron of the Royal British Legion’s Centenary in 2021 and is featured in its ‘Cooking with Heroes’ book.
- For more information see www.badgerbeers.com/our-beers/
Press release issued on behalf of Badger Beers by ShielPorter Communications
For further information:
Ros Shiel:ros@shielporter.com / 07841 694137
John Porter:john@shielporter.com / 07734 054389