Old Session Hen Secures Medal at The Grocer’s Packaging Awards

ld Session Hen took home bronze in the Alcohol Product category at The Grocer’s New Product and Packaging Awards, held last Friday at Wembley Stadium.

Old Session Hen, part of the Old Speckled Hen family, is a 3.4% easy-drinking ale offering subtle tropical fruit flavours and a crisp, clean finish. Introduced to the retail market last year in both bottle and can formats, it quickly became the top ale launch by volume in 2024* and one of the top five new beer launches in the off-trade by value**.

Since the initial launch, the recipe has been refined to enhance the refreshing flavour, making it eligible for this year’s Grocer Awards. The ale has continued to perform strongly with consumers, reflecting the growing appeal of the “sessionable ale” style among drinkers looking for lower-ABV, lighter-coloured options.

The Grocer’s New Product and Packaging Awards celebrate the best innovations across the FMCG landscape, recognising excellence in design, functionality, and sustainability.

David Spencer, Marketing Lead for the Old Speckled Hen family, said: “This recognition is a testament to our team’s creativity and passion for craftsmanship. Old Speckled Hen is such a well-known brand in the retail market, and we continue to build on that brand love to innovate within the ale category. Old Session Hen honours the family’s heritage while broadening our portfolio — and we’re excited to see what’s next.”

Following the success of the golden ale in the off-trade, Old Session Hen also launched as a permanent cask ale this year, with customers now able to enjoy the beer both at home and in venues across the UK.

Old Session Hen is available in major retailers nationwide in bottle and can formats and has recently launched in 10 x 440ml can packs.

-ENDS-

Data Sources:

* Source: Greene King customised view of NielsenIQ Retail Measurement service.  Incremental value for beer for a new product for the 52 weeks ending 28/12/2024, GB total Coverage. Copyright © 2025 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

** Source: Greene King customised view of NielsenIQ Retail Measurement service.  Incremental volume for beer for a new product for the 52 weeks ending 28/12/2024, GB total Coverage. Copyright © 2025 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Notes to editors

Greene King is the country’s leading pub company and brewer with c.2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland.

At Greene King we are passionate about delivering our purpose to ‘pour happiness into lives’. That’s for our customers, our team, our pub partners, our suppliers and the communities in which we live, operate and serve. Founded in 1799 with offices in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and Burton on Trent in Staffordshire we employ around 40,000 people across the group with three divisions: Greene King pubs, Destination Brands & Ventures, and Brewing & Brands.

• Greene King pubs: Greene King pubs is our mainstream pub brand located where people and communities come together; pubs enjoyed in cities, towns and villages throughout the country with clear ambition to be “The Nation’s Most Loved Pub Brand”. Pub Partners runs our tenanted and leased pubs business and Hive Franchise pubs.

• Destination Brands & Ventures: Destination Brands is a portfolio of distinct brands which includes Hungry Horse, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Flaming Grill that bring friends and family together, delivering great service, quality and value for money for a range of eating out and drinking occasions. Venture includes Hickory’s, Premium (Crafted Pubs & Metropolitan Pub Company) and Hotels which operate autonomously of Greene King’s managed pub brands. 

• Brewing & Brands covers the brewing sides of the business. Quality ales are brewed at the Westgate brewery in Bury St Edmunds and the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar. Our industry-leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale, Ice Breaker and Belhaven Best and our premium beers, Level Head and Flint Eye, brewed for the modern-day drinker.

Further images have been supplied here: https://we.tl/t-ShzJtKV2gT

For more information, please contact hollylander@greeneking.co.uk

Third-party news items that are posted on the Guild website come from press releases and emails received by the Guild. These are posted as they have been received. Their publication on the Guild website is an informational service only and is neither an endorsement of the content, nor its sender, by the Guild. For enquiries, please use the contact details that can be found at the bottom of each post.