Oddbins extends own label craft beer

Oddbins has extended its own label craft beer range with the launch of a limited edition ale in collaboration with Bristol brewery Wiper and True.

Oddbins No. 7, a modern Amber Ale,  goes on sale from 1 July across stores nationwide (RRP: £3.20).

“Our aim was to create a beer that had depth and complexity, and balanced pine and soft fruit flavours of New World hops with the biscuit and toffee characteristics of traditional malts,” Oddbins beer buyer Sarah Hamilton said.

The unfiltered, unfined and unpasteurised modern amber ale includes three hops that originated in the USA, Simcoe, Mosaic and El Dorado, with five different malts.

The retailer launched its first own label beer, a festive beer called No. 1 made by the East London Brewery Company as a trial in October 2013, but has since launched a series of limited-edition craft beers in collaboration with UK breweries, including Oxfordshire-based Compass Brewery, London’s Rocky Head and Six Degrees North Brewery, from Aberdeen.

Sales have been “massive”, Oddbins wine buyer Ana Sapungiu told db recently, saying it had exceeded “all other categories in terms of growth, albeit from a smaller base”.

The retailer’s dedicated craft beer store, which opened in Blackheath March 2015 and stocks more than 300 craft beers, around 75% of them from the UK, has done particularly well, Sapungiu noted, and she revealed there are plans to open more “in the future”.

In 2015, the company reported a 37% rise in sales of “locally produced” craft beer, with beers making up around 8% of the retail sales, 60% of that from craft beers.