Westons is bringing out a collection of canned craft ciders for the off-trade market. The activity follows the launch of Caple Rd Cider – billed as the first UK craft cider in a can – which the company said was “a highly successful launch”. The collection of lightly sparkling ciders is available nationwide and comprises Caple Rd No 5, the latest Caple Rd variant, which…

The forecast is in – and it looks like the cider market is going to be cloudy this autumn. A rainy summer has put the (wellington) boot into an already struggling mainstream cider market. Once a surefire winner, the £1 billion market has lost £35 million in the past year, according to IRI. In response, cider producers are making like…

Thatchers has launched a marketing campaign called “cloudy with a 100{7c69fd72f8e2bab9ee87ef5a2685d86c0107c79a8a610a3574925e3ec9a3ba47} chance of apples” for its cloudy cider, Thatchers Somerset Haze. The campaign will include retailer six sheets from August 10, supermarket couponing, sampling in-store and at events and a social media campaign that will include competitions and giveaways. Martin Thatcher, fourth generation cidermaker at Thatchers, said: “There’s a huge appetite among consumers for authentic,…

Heineken has declared that its new Strongbow cloudy cider will be the biggest alcohol launch in 2015 after allocating a £8 million marketing budget to promote it. It is the most Heineken has ever spent on promoting a new product and will include advertising on TV, billboards, mobile and social media. It will spend £1 million on a national sampling campaign that will hand out…

Thatchers has launched a premium cloudy cider brand called Somerset Haze in time for the summer spike in cider drinking. The new 4.5% abv cider is made from Discovery, Falstaff, Gala and Jonagold apples and is targeted at young adults that enjoy a sweeter, easy-drinking style. Fourth generation cidermaker Martin Thatcher said: “Somerset Haze gives those drinkers who are looking for an easy drinking, cloudy…

Cloudy Bay is hosting a sensory garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the second year running in a bid to teach consumers about the aromas and textures that make up the wine. It will also run a bar serving Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to the show’s 157,000 visitors. The garden will aim to highlight the terroir of New Zealand’s famous Marlborough…

Halewood has launched an American-style cloudy apple cider in a bid to create a brand that can match Crabbie’s and Lambrini in scale. Lazy Jack’s is designed to bridge the gap between sweet fruit cider and complex scrumpy cider, and is targeted at 22 to 30-year-olds. Director of innovation Richard Clark told OLN: “This is our first NPD of scale since Crabbie’s was launched five…