MillerCoors To Expand Leinenkugel Brand

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 30, 2013 6:40PM

MillerCoors is bullish on the Leinenkugel brand. Crain’s Chicago Business reports the brewing giant is expanding the brand’s product line, advertising and distribution to appeal to a wider range of beer drinkers, similar to how MillerCoors has done with its Blue Moon brand in recent years.

There’s room to grow in the beer marketplace and Leinenkugel, which already has a wide range of styles in its product line, is getting this vote of confidence largely on the strength of sales of its Summer Shandy. Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. President Jake Leinenkugel said half of the company’s business this year has been from sales of Summer Shandy, which became the first of their brands to be available in all 50 states and have national advertising behind it. "We never thought it would be that big but it continues to grow,” Leinenkugel said.

Dick Leinenkugel, business development manager for Tenth & Blake Brewing Co., the craft division of Chicago-based MillerCoors, said Summer Shandy “gives us a real strong platform because there are more people than ever interested in our brand. After they discover Summer Shandy, they say 'what else do you make?'"

MillerCoors’ increased investment in Leinenkugel is another battle for the consumer dollars of beer drinkers who are beginning to turn away from mass-marketed lagers and light beers. The craft beer marketplace has steadily grown in recent years while sales of light beers have declined steadily. (Light beer still accounts for half of overall beer sales.) Expanding Leinenkugel’s national profile would give MillerCoors a second “craft brand” to promote, along with Blue Moon, as they and Anheuser-Busch/InBEV jockey for position in the market. A-B/InBEV has transformed Goose Island into its national craft beer brand since they bought the Chicago brewery in 2011.