Relying on sales figures, trend forecasting and the clamor of distributors, retailers and consumers, Boulder Beer will be in search of a new summer seasonal for 2017. That’s because the debut of its summer seasonal this year, “Pulp Fusion” Blood Orange IPA was such a hit that it was “promoted” to a year-round beer.
“We did have an idea going in that it could become a year-round beer in our portfolio, but [we] didn’t make the call until last month,” said Boulder marketing director Tess McFadden. “Distributor and retailer requests to keep it out year-round solidified the decision.”
McFadden noted that fruit-forward IPAs are a hot commodity right now.
“We just weren’t willing to pull it off the shelves yet,” she said. “It’s such an approachable IPA too that it draws in some typically ‘I’m not that into IPAs’ people.”
Pulp Fusion was first released this May as the veteran brewery’s new summer seasonal in 12 ounce six-pack bottles and draft throughout Boulder Beer’s 34 state footprint. National sales director, Judd Belstock said the beer has the capacity to be the brewery’s second-best selling beer for 2016. It’s top seller is “Shake” Chocolate Porter.
“There is no doubt in my mind that we have a winner on our hands,” he said in a statement.
Now, Boulder will start the process over of selecting a new summer seasonal for 2017. McFadden said that Boulder is meeting this week to decide its release calendar.
“The R&D process is a lot of fun and ongoing always,” she said.
At the brewery’s 37th anniversary party, a few pilot batches were tested and it is working with several test market accounts for certain recipes.
“If the beer is a hit we consider releasing those beers on a larger scale,” she explained. “Input on our Brewer’s Choice beers from our pub guests here at the brewery is always very valuable info when deciding on new releases.”
Boulder currently packages seven year-round beers, numerous rotating seasonals, and periodically release very limited-edition, small-batch brews throughout the year.
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