By Karen Peattie

LOW-CALORIE drinks brand Gen!us Craft Lager has secured listings in hundreds of Spar convenience stores in England and Wales as it ramps up plans to expand beyond the Scottish market and achieve its ambition to become the UK’s number one light craft lager brand.

Founded in 2018 by former filmmaker and writer Jason Clarke and Charlie Craig, who was operations director at Fyne Ales, Glasgow-based Genius Brewing “is on a mission to make healthier drinking a pleasure, not a compromise”.

Its Gen!us product, described as a “refreshing light craft lager with a smooth, citrus finish”, contains 79 calories in each 330ml can – fewer than the average apple – and at 3 per cent ABV is exactly one unit of alcohol.

The Spar listings south of the Border, through wholesalers Appleby Westward and AF Blakemore, give the Gen!us brand widespread exposure in the important convenience retail sector in Wales and England (south of Manchester) for the first time. Last year, it secured a listing in 100 Spar Scotland stores via the Dundee-based wholesaler, CJ Lang.

Both AF Blakemore and Appleby Westward are now stocking Gen!us Craft Lager in 350 of their company-owned Spar outlets. The craft lager is sold in 330ml four-packs with Genius Brewing’s co-founders confident that it will build up a loyal following among health-conscious beer fans.

Mr Clarke, whose “eureka moment” came in 2016 when he was in a pub looking for a low-alcohol beer, said: “I wanted a beer but couldn’t find anything that was below 5% ABV that tastes great and started to ask why this was the case.

“It appeared to me that there was this massive, gaping whole in the market at a time when fitness, diet and health were really coming to the fore. While there was a huge choice of craft beer it was all high ABV. I felt the industry was looking in the wrong direction – there was an opportunity there for the right product.”

According to Mr Craig, who attended Aberdeen University with Mr Clarke, “there’s no doubt we’re seeing a huge change in attitudes towards health and alcohol consumption, as evidenced by the growth in no-alcohol beers”.

But he noted: “Most drinkers face an all-or-nothing choice – beer with lots of booze, or no booze at all. Gen!us offers a balanced alternative – genuine craft beer enjoyment but with less alcohol and lower calories. We think that’s a smart choice.”

Using the #SmartDrinking hashtag to promote Gen!us and the benefits to consumers of making well-informed, healthier choices, Genius Brewing also points out that Covid-driven lockdowns led to a sharp increase in shopping in convenience stores across the UK as shoppers stayed closer to home.

Meanwhile, the IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) has predicted that the UK convenience market will grow 13.2% in value terms by 2022, its most recent UK food and grocery market forecast revealing that the sector will be worth £5.4 billion more than in 2019 and increase its market share from 21.4% (2019) to 22% in 2022.

Covid has also put health and obesity at the top of the agenda, noted Mr Clarke and Mr Craig, helping to accelerate the trend for healthier drinking which has seen no-alcohol and light beers such as Gen!us become increasingly popular.

Simon Scammell, head of trading at AF Blakemore, said that the craft beer market is “constantly evolving and we’re now seeing a move towards light beers and session ales with lower ABVs”.

He noted: “AF Blakemore always keeps a keen eye on changing consumer tastes and we’re excited to be offering an innovative, light craft lager in our Spar stores.”

His counterpart at Appleby Westward, Matt Billing, pointed to the fact that 5p from every can of Gen!us sold goes to support former rugby player Doddie Weir’s MND foundation. “The South West has a huge rugby community and our Spar customers will not only be able to support a great cause, they’ll be able to enjoy a new low-calorie craft lager that suits their healthy lifestyle,” said Mr Billing.

The firm has seen turnover double over the past year with an appearance on BBC’s Dragons’ Den in April also “a key catalyst in the company’s brand awareness and sales growth”. Last month, Mr Clarke and Mr Craig told The Herald that ecommerce was up 50% across Amazon and the Genius Brewing website.

While Genius Brewing has aspirations to grow its retail business via major supermarkets and launch a draft product for pubs, the immediate priority is to “nurture the new and current accounts”.