PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2015

PET products 48 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 10/15 www.petpla.net Wild herbs and Lemon+X Wild Flavors and Spe- cialty Ingredients (Wild) is set to breathe new life into the challenging Euro- pean beer market. Their most recent developments include both beer-mix drinks with wild herbs for men and lemon+X for women as well as non-alcoholic options. On today’s stagnating beer market, there is a demand for trend-setting alternatives to breathe new life into sales. “Clas- sic” beer is still on decline in Europe. According to projections by Canadean, in 2015 some 49,000 million liters will be sold, a 2.7% lower volume than in the previous year. By contrast, beer-mix drinks and flavored beers are showing major growth figures: since 2007 they have grown by 4-16% per year. The best sellers are the non-alcoholic options. In Germany, there was a 13% increase from January to June 2015 compared with the previous year’s data, confirming the sector’s popular- ity. These beverages are currently the main engine of growth and make up a market share of 12% of the total beer market. Wild’s new beer-mix concepts were inspired by popular long drinks and cocktails. There is especially high demand right now for beer-mix drinks in innovative flavors, and cock- tails have an influence that has made its way to the beer market as well. The new Wild beer-mix concepts with wild herbs are designed to appeal to a male target group in particu- lar. The wheat-beer basis is enhanced with a variety of herbal notes that are well-known from herbal liquors, creating surpris- ing flavor experiences. Those who prefer a milder flavor can turn to Wild’s “Lemon+X,” which features 3% juice. The natural citrus note is blended with juniper here, giving the beer notes that resemble a gin and tonic. The company integrated this popular combination known from beer-mix drinks and added citrus to it, which offers customers additional options from within the sector. The new concept is targeted at people who are not classic beer drinkers, especially women. “Non-alcoholic beer-mix drinks are literally getting things moving on the market. Their potential is considerable for two reasons: they can cover a wide range of flavor preferences for the young and old alike. And these soft drinks are also ideal for many different everyday consumption situations, from enjoying a beverage at lunch or at parties all the way to isotonic thirst-quenching after exercise,” says Tanja Krüger, Senior Product Manager at Wild. The company’s portfolio of non-alcoholic beer-mix drinks ranges from popular classics such as shandies with lemon all the way to cross-category beer blends with flavors reminis- cent of popular cocktails such as margaritas and caipirinhas. Another form of product differentiation is also occurring in this segment: in addition to classic nonalcoholic drinks, which are allowed to have an alcohol content of up to 0.5%, there are more and more options which contain no alcohol whatsoever. These beverages can be actively labeled and advertised as having “0.0% alcohol content,” which is the perfect description in demang among health-conscious consumers. www.wildflavors.com