|
|
Czechvar goes down easy in U.S.
Brew exceeds target for sales in North America
By
Sam Beckwith
STAFF WRITER
The reviews are in. Czechvar is a hit in the United States.
"Your appearance in our land is like the Second Coming of Christ," reads one message from a grateful U.S. beer drinker on the Czechvar Web site.
In November 2000 Budejovicky Budvar's famous beer became available in North America under a new name -- Czechvar. It is now sold in 14 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, primarily at specialty beer stores.
Before that, an ongoing trademark dispute with U.S. brewing giant Anheuser-Busch over the Budweiser name had kept the state-run Czech brewer from selling its most famous product north of the Panama Canal. The dispute ended when the Czech side agreed to market the beer as Czechvar.
Sales figures for Czechvar in 2001 far exceeded Budvar's expectations. The brewer had aimed to sell 3,000 hectoliters (79,200 gallons) of Czechvar in the United States last year; instead, it sold 8,522 hectoliters. Another 452 hectoliters were sold in Canada. Budvar now forecasts sales of between 13,000 and 15,000 hectoliters for this year.
The news for Budvar is promising, but Czechvar sales still represent only a tiny percentage of the beer consumed in the United States. U.S. drinkers put away 235.7 billion hectoliters of beer in 2000.
Czechvar, meanwhile, accounts for a mere 5.4 percent of the Czech beer exported to the United States.
BEER BUZZ
Czech beer exports 2001, in hectoliters:
156,697 United States
16,067 Canada
Czechvar exports (2001):
8,522 United States
452 Canada
2002 targets
13,000-15,000 United States
3,000-3,500 Canada
|
Area export manager Jana Kubistova remains happy with Czechvar's progress, however, and has no wish to take on giants such as Anheuser-Busch or even large-scale imports such as Heineken.
"We are not a volume producer," she said. "We don't want to compete. We want to position Czechvar very highly -- find nice stores and have very sophisticated consumers."
Julie Johnson Bradford, editor of the U.S. magazine All About Beer, agrees that Czechvar has lived up to its cult status.
"I think that any beer writer that's had the opportunity to taste Budvar in the Czech Republic gives it the highest marks," she said. "It really is that good."
But one cause of concern among beer aficionados has been Budvar's decision to export the product in green bottles, which offer less protection from light damage than brown glass. In the Czech Republic, Budvar is available in both green and brown glass bottles.
Johnson Bradford called the choice of green glass "dumb, dumb, dumb."
Consumers could be disillusioned, she said, "after all the anticipation, if you open it and find that it tastes of cardboard."
|
|
 
|
