When is a "niche market" more than a niche market? That's a question Tennants Ireland was happy to answer this week in New York. Tennants' parent company, Bass, has just launched Caffrey's beer in the United States; its target is to have the red, creamy beer available at 40,000 bars within three years. There are just 10,000 pubs and bars in the Republic.
Caffrey's, which is brewed in Belfast's Glen Road brewery, is being distributed in the US by a rival company, Guinness, which has considerable experience in the market. The companies have backed their latest thrust into the New World with an outdoor advertising campaign. So far they have spent $5 million (€4.7 million).
The type of customer being targeted is typically what the company calls "a taste beer rookie, currently drinking brands that are not challenging" - in other words American lager drinkers. The photofit customer is also young, male, an urban dweller and somewhat image-conscious, but Tennants is quick to point out such drinkers usually persuade women to try the beer.
Red, creamy beer is not so strange to American palates anymore, and as an experienced brewery, Caffrey's can guarantee consistency. What is also going down well Stateside, Caffrey's say, is the Irishness of the product - the first pint was made by Dubliner Thomas Caffrey in 1897.
