Craft beer has just provided an innovation so glaringly obvious we should really have seen it coming; fried chicken beer. This follows a tried and tested thought process for formulating a novel eye catcher: chicken is good, and beer is good, therefore chicken beer must be very good. With bonus points in this case for “hipsters will love it”.

Novelty craft beers such as the fried chicken beer are normally priced beyond the reach of most consumers. However the difference in this case is that this beer is not an extravagantly priced novelty as was BrewDog’s stuffed animal beer, or a wild gambit from a niche brewery. This is a perfectly viable, though admittedly limited edition, beer from two well respected brewers; Veil Brewing and Evil Twin Brewing.

While many will say this is a stunt to attract attention, and this is almost certainly true, this gives a glimpse of a wider truth in the craft beer market – that breweries are having to formulate such novelties to garner airtime in a segment saturated almost beyond compare.

As the market consolidates and winners begin to emerge, we will see these sorts of novelties lose pace. However this is still some way off. Over the course of what’s left of this decade, expect to see a continuing arms race for the remaining ‘loose share’ of craft beer.

Also, the brewers have since stated that this beer doesn’t actually taste like chicken at all, so that’s okay then.

Related links

https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/brmiuk14–beer-market-insights-united-kingdom/