Innovation in flavoured beer is likely to be a response to the rapid growth within other flavoured alcoholic drinks, including hard seltzers.
Across many regions, launches of flavoured beer witnessed double digit growth, rising as much as 48% CAGR in Canada and 30% CAGR in the UK.
Between 2019 and 2024, around 21% of new beer launches in Europe were flavoured beer unveilings. Movement in this space was particularly acute in the UK, which has seen five times more flavoured beer launches than the second most active country, France.
Mango, fruit, tropical fruits, citrus, and red raspberry secured the top spots for flavours in beer and cider. But data shows that pineapple, guava, lime, strawberry and lemon are also growing in popularity.
Younger consumers in Europe (aged 25-34) are more likely to have tried a flavoured beer, Synergy found. With 56% of UK consumers saying they prefer a bitter tasting beer, this increased to 69% in Germany and 78% in France.
Paola Bassi, marketing director at Synergy Flavours Europe said the results were a “bit of a surprise” considering the demand for flavoured beers, but added that this presented opportunity for citrus NPD.
He added: “This preference needs to be reflected in the flavour choices of beer producers. Flavours like mandarin, lime, orange, and grapefruit can complement the bitterness in beer and might represent the sweet spot in terms of product development.”
Citrus has been a popular focus for large companies (top 100 global companies based on sales) over the last six years. Smaller companies, meanwhile, have been experimenting with less fruity profiles, with NPD including milk chocolate, vanilla and coffee profiles.
Synergy’s assessment used data from Innova and the consumer research platform, VYPR.
In other news, McCain has recalled 25,000 packs of products imported from India.