Flavored Beer Survey: Familiar Flavors Can Appeal to New Customers

Flavored beer is a major trend in the brewing industry in 2016 according to DRAFT Magazine. Fruity or sweet flavors that people can also find in other food or beverages can help beer drinkers determine hat they’re getting before they order, since they’re likely to already be familiar with those flavors from other food and drink items. So it can be a great way for beer companies to get people trying new beer varieties. So just how many beer drinkers try new flavored beer options regularly? We asked 1,000 consumers on September 29-October 1 about their thoughts on this beer industry trend.

Beer Drinkers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 10% of respondents said they last drank beer within the past day. 15% have within the past week. 10% have within the past month. 9% last drank beer within the past three months. 5% have within the year. 10% last drank beer more than a year ago. And 42% said they just aren’t beer consumers. The top beer brands mentioned by respondents include Bud Light, Corona, Coors, Heineken, Miller Lite, Sam Adams, Michelob and Blue Moon.

Flavored Beer

In general, 49% of beer drinkers said they usually drink light beer. 20% drink amber beer. 19% drink pale ale. Another 19% said they prefer flavored beer. 17% like dark beers. 9% enjoy IPA’s. And 12% have other favorite beer varieties, such as pilsner, cider or lager. In addition, just 3% of beer drinkers said they last tried new beer options within the past day. 8% have done so in the past week. 14% have within the past month. 20% have within the past three months. 16% said they last tried new beer varieties within the past year. 26% said it’s been more than a year since they last tried any new beer. And 13% never try new beer. 44% of beer consumers said that they generally enjoy trying new beers. 59% said they’re more likely to try new beer when they’re familiar with the flavor. And 56% said they’re more likely to try new beer when they’re familiar with the brand.

Popular Flavors

Outside of the beer world, 51% said that they generally enjoy chocolate flavored food and/or drink items. 46% named strawberry as one of their favorite flavors. 40% enjoy cherry flavored food and drinks. 38% like coffee flavored things. 37% like orange. 28% like lime. 18% like ginger. And 15% like grapefruit. More specifically, 23% of beer drinkers said they would be interested in beer that has lime flavoring. Another 23% are interested in strawberry flavored beer. 20% said they would be interested in trying cherry flavored beers. 18% would like to try beer with ginger flavoring. 17% are interested in orange flavored beer. 15% would try chocolate flavored beer. 14% would try coffee flavored beer. 13% would try grapefruit flavored beer. And 37% said they wouldn’t be interested in trying any of those flavors in beer.

Key Takeaways

Familiar flavors like fruit and dessert items can certainly appeal to beer drinkers. And they can potentially get people to try new beers, since more than half of beer drinkers said they are more likely to try new beer when they are familiar with the flavor already. And if beer brands can get consumers to try their flavored beer options, they can potentially get them to try even more varieties because of the brand recognition. So essentially, beer brands can use familiar flavors as a gateway to introduce new customers to the brand, and then work to build loyal customers from there through promotions like beer tastings, sampler packs or even loyalty promotions. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Saltaire Brewery Raspberry Blonde & Wells Banana Bread Beer by rawdonfox under CC BY 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on September 29-October 1 via AYTM’s online survey panel.