Guinness Goes Blonde

The statement “I’m going blond” doesn’t usually imply the long term. Maybe a brunette seeks brief, superficial change to counter the monotony of stylistic routine. Perhaps she just wants to look like Kim Novak. Or Lance Bass. But no matter the motive, going blond is typically seen as something temporary.

It remains to be seen if the beer industry should consider Guinness’ recent release of Guinness Blonde American Lager as an act of whimsy. The follow-up to Guinness Black marks the beginning of a new phase for the brewer.

Long known for its stout, it’s now ready to be known for more.

“Guinness Black Lager brought a whole new audience to the Guinness trademark,” Doug Campbell, Guinness’ brand director, wrote to BevNET. “We learned that consumers were not only open to a new style of beer from Guinness, but also really wanted us to experiment more than we had been.”

Experimentation, innovation, broad portfolios, they’ve all become important terms in the beer business, and that’s a vocabulary that’s being pushed into the forefront by the ongoing growth of domestic craft beer companies. While craft’s rate of expansion has been torrid, imports have had slow but steady growth; last year imports were up 4.5 percent, the year before they were up 2 percent, according to Technomic…CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY AT BEVNET.COM