A couple of years ago, when I first noticed that Blue Moon beer was becoming increasingly popular, I was surprised that most people, including those who were regular Blue Moon drinkers, were not aware that it was a product of Coors. Today's Wall Street Journal explains that the mysterious background of Blue Moon is not an accident:
Candace Lawson loves Blue Moon beer. "It's the only beer I drink," she says.
But the 27-year-old Chicago bartender has no idea who makes it. "I just know it's a Belgian wheat beer," she says.
Except it's not -- or not exactly.
Blue Moon is indeed a Belgian-style wheat beer, and it has become a hit in the increasingly important segment of the market catering to fans of "craft" beers -- traditionally the products of small brewers. But what many Blue Moon drinkers don't know is that the beer is made in Canada by Molson Coors Brewing Co., the third-largest brewer in the U.S., after Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Miller Brewing Co.
Typically, linking a large brewer to a craft beer would be the kiss of death. But Coors has managed to have it both ways, relying on a "stealth" marketing campaign that rejects the macho TV commercials that offend many craft-beer aficionados. A Coors spokesman says Blue Moon has an agency -- Omnicom's Integer Group -- that creates the brand's point-of-sale materials, but "our marketing has been very minimal."
As have been any indications of ties to Coors. The approach seems to be paying off:
Industry estimates predict the company will sell between 400,000 and 500,000 barrels of Blue Moon this year. If so, that would make it the third- or fourth- largest craft brewer in the U.S., behind Boston-based Boston Beer Co.; Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, Calif.; and New Belgium Brewing Co. of Fort Collins, Colo.
Distributors credit the success of Blue Moon in part to its visual appeal in "on-premise" locations like bars. In what turned out to be a masterstroke of marketing, Keith Villa, Blue Moon's creator, decided that the company should suggest that bars to serve the beer with an orange slice garnishing the rim of the glass.
"When people saw a beer with an orange slice in it, it piqued their interest," says Jim Doney, president of Chicago Beverage Systems LLC. "They said, 'Hey, let me try one of those.' " As the beer developed a strong following in on-premise accounts, says Mr. Doney, distribution was then expanded to off-premise accounts, like grocery stores.
When you read something like this, it's hard to argue against the stereotype of your average beer drinker being about as sophisticated as Homer Simpson. Beer with orange slice? Me want try. Mmmm...beer with orange slice. Can Skittle-brau really be that far off?
While I'm not normally a big fan of adding an orange to my beer (lemon in a good hefeweizen is perfectly acceptable of course), I have to admit that it works with Blue Moon. On so many levels.
Although Blue Moon has been around for more than a decade, Molson Coors won't talk in detail about its strategy for the beer, citing a highly competitive marketplace. But as the beer has become more widely known, so, too, have some of Molson Coors's tactics: playing down the beer's connection to its corporate parent; avoiding TV ads; using distributors who know how to sell smaller brands; and targeting key markets and accounts.
The U.S. craft-beer segment is still relatively small, accounting for about 3.4% of the volume and 5.3% of sales in the U.S. in 2005, according to the Brewers Association, a craft-beer trade group based in Boulder, Colo. But the craft segment represents a desirable demographic of young, educated, affluent beer drinkers willing to shell out more for their brew. And big brewers are eager to tap this market.
Earlier this year, Anheuser-Busch introduced two organic beers, Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale. Like Blue Moon, both play down their relationship to their parent. Stone Mill's label says it's brewed by Crooked Creek Brewing Co., and Wild Hop is marketed as a product of the Green Valley Brewing Co.
Would it be possible to come up with lamer sounding names? You can tell they were run through the corporate marketing grinder until every last ounce of authenticity was wrung out. They're utterly banal and completely indistinguishable. Yeah, I'll have one of them Stone Hop Pale Ales from Green Creek Brewing. Or whatever.
Miller, too, is trying hard to crack the craft market. In April, its Leinenkugel brand introduced Sunset Wheat. It is, for all practical purposes, a clone of Blue Moon, down to the use of coriander.
This is a little bit misleading. While Leinenkugel is owned by Miller, and is not a craft brewer per se, it has been brewing beer that comes closer to the craft than big brew category for some time (at least in terms of styles and flavors). And Sunset Wheat is hardly a clone of Blue Moon, although Leinenkugel's has copied the orange slice bit.
Mr. Thompson attributes much of Blue Moon's success to Molson Coors distributors, who he notes are very good at selling smaller brands. Blue Moon's success, he notes, has also been a slow process, taking more than a decade, but one that has earned the beer respect.
Die-hards don't consider Blue Moon to be a true craft beer. True craft beers must be produced by small, independent and traditional breweries, generally those producing fewer than two million barrels of beer a year. But even beer snobs admit to liking it.
"It is nice," said Jeff Meyer, host of The Good Beer Show, a podcast that often originates from the Heorot Pub and Draught House in Muncie, Ind.
The Heorot is a real beer lover's bar. It's got 53 draft lines, 350 bottled beers and plaques on the wall for anyone who has tried 100 different beers. Stan Stephens, president of the Heorot, says he has one rule: "No Budweiser, no Miller, no Coors." But he makes an exception for Blue Moon. "Blue Moon's real popular," he says.
Although I've been accused of being one, I don't consider myself a beer snob. I just happen to like beer with taste and flavor. Most of the beers that meet this standard are craft beers, but frankly I don't care who makes the beer as long as it's good. And Blue Moon is definitely that, especially on a hot summer day.
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