Badger Beers is putting its award-winning Milk Made stout into 440ml cans in April, with listings secured in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Morrisons.
The move reflects the growing consumer demand for Milk Made since its exclusive online launch in 2020 in 500ml bottles, as well as increasing interest in dark beers.
Milk Made is the first stout in many years from independent family brewer Hall & Woodhouse, which has brewed Badger beers in Blandford, Dorset, for more than 240 years. It won a gold medal at the International Brewing Awards last year.
Milk Made will be stocked in up to 250 Waitrose stores from April, followed in May with a listing in 60 Sainsbury’s branches, and selected Morrisons stores. The cans continue the impactful black-and-white design of the bottles, describing Milk Made as an ‘udderly indulgent’ milk stout, with chocolate, vanilla, and coconut notes.
Matt Woodhouse, drinks marketing manager at Badger Beers, said: “We’re delighted to have secured listings with these leading supermarkets for Milk Made cans and expect other retailers to follow suit.
“Brewing a stout again was a departure from the traditional ales that the Badger brand was built on. Milk Made’s popularity has proved that was the right move and demonstrated we can be successful across the beer market.
“Similarly, by putting Milk Made into cans, we’re broadening our appeal to younger craft drinkers, bringing new consumers to the brand alongside our Badger loyalists.”
Fast-growing sector
He added: “Badger has been able to respond quickly to market trends, such as the growth of stouts, thanks to our talented brewing team, and to our structure. We’re a national brand with near-universal distribution, but we’re also a family business, able to make quick decisions. As a result, Badger has become the fourth fastest-growing brewer in the premium bottled ale sector.”
Stout is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the off-trade beer market, with volume sales up by 45% in the last two years. Within stouts, innovative brands such as Milk Made are growing at twice the rate of the sector overall.
Milk Made is one of several contemporary beers launched in the last couple of years under an ambitious new product programme to complement the core Badger Beers brand.
Newer beers include Fropical Ferret, a fruity IPA; Twice Tangled, a double-hopped IPA; and a New England IPA, launched in autumn 2021, as the first beer in a new Small Batch Series from Hall & Woodhouse.
