Last week, Drinks Trade staff were among the 70+ suppliers, publicans, and media workers invited to the official launch event of Great Northern Long Run in Longreach, Queensland. Despite currently being exclusively available in Queensland, Asahi Beverages-owned Carlton & United Breweries and the 3 Degrees Marketing agency invested heavily into ensuring the two-day product launch was an unforgettable experience. Included in this itinerary was a private chartered plane from Brisbane airport, a three-course dinner at the historic Dr. Bruce Yeates Memorial Cottage, and a bountiful supply of Great Northern Long Run.
One of the guests, Brisbane-based publican Nick Kalaf, said Long Run “is definitely a different beer from the Crisp and the Original.
“It's a bit more of a complex palate to those original beers, so it'll be interesting to see who they're trying to target with it. For me, I actually like it,” he said.
Drinks Trade forwarded the question of Long Run's target market to Asahi Beverages’ General Manager of Sales Ian Giles.
According to Giles, “if you think about Great Northern as a brand, we have a Zero Alc, we have a Ginger Beer, we have a Mid Strength, [and] we have a Full Strength… but at times like Christmas Day or maybe an awards night when you've done something special and you're wanting to spend a little bit more money and buy a more premium beer to celebrate yourself or to celebrate with others. We didn't have an offering within the range and now we do.”
Long Run is a little bit hoppier and fuller flavoured than previous Great Northern expressions and is bottled with more premium, retro-inspired packaging. According to Giles, it “is a beer that we've spent a little bit more time and effort in the way in which we make it. It is slightly more expensive but it's the right beer for celebration.”
Another guest to the event, Melbourne pastry chef John Demetrios, said “it goes down way too easy for my liking.”
John Demetrios, who works at establishments such as Omnia, Yugen Tea Bar, Yugen Dining, and Capitol Grand, was invited to Longreach to lead the dessert menu creation. Demetreos, along with fellow invited chefs Hugh Allen and Chris Marshall of Vue De Monde, spent several weeks prior to the event mentoring local chefs.
“We came down a few weeks ago and we met the team at the branch who was running the event,” said Demetrios.
“I think it went really well. We wanted to do something a little bit refreshing at the end of it all and then we wanted to use the beer itself, so we made chocolates out of that. I think it married itself really nicely with the citrus and caramel flavours.”
Close to the geographical centre of Queensland’s outback, Longreach is about 1000 kms, or 1:45 hours flight-time, from Brisbane. According to Giles, the Far North Queensland region was essential to Long Run’s development.
“We built the brand in regional Queensland. A lot of what we do is supporting regional communities, so to take the launch of the next iteration of Great Northern with Long Run out to a regional community and bring 50-odd people out there to do the launch is huge.”
Despite the national launch event, Great Northern Long Run is currently only available to Queensland trade.
“It's a great test market because of the climate within Queensland - the metro component, the regional component - that formula was quite successful for us so we've done it again with Great Northern Long Run to support the Queenslanders who first supported the brand,” said Giles.
“Going back to when we launched Great Northern back in 2010, we launched it in Queensland and it remained a Queensland only brand until I think it was around 2015, 2016… The brand was originally launched in regional Queensland and sort of over time made its way into those metro areas.”
Reflecting on Queensland’s current market, publican Nick Calaf said “there's pockets that are doing okay off South East Queensland.”
In addition to his on-premise venues, Calaf also owns three off premise venues: “They're not screaming big figures but they're still consistent,” he said.
“More importantly for me, the on-premise stuff is going strong and it seems to be maintaining pretty well for me.
“We've noticed that there's people looking for a cheaper or discounted beer on tap and they're the ones that seem to be moving the most. Having said that, we're still going through some of the premiums, some of the crafts on tap. Probably not to the volume that we used to do but they're still moving.”
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Great Northern Long Run is available statewide now at an RRP of $25 per 6-pack and $67 per case of 24. To learn more about the product release, read this Drinks Trade article.
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