Crisp company bags beer drinkers
snacks market by combining two popular drinking indulgences - beer
and crisps.
The UK Kettle Chips maker has added new Mature Cheddar and Adnams' Broadside Beer variety to its range of premium crisps.
Beer for the flavouring was provided by English brewers Adnams and is designed to target the luxury end of the crisp market where a growing number of consumers are being enticed by exotic flavours.
The crisp industry has been suffering from lacklustre sales in recent months due to health concerns and negative publicity surrounding the snack - leading manufacturers to become more inventive in an attempt to bolster profits.
Among the gourmet flavours already available in Kettle's Chips range are Apple, Sage and Thyme and Mango Chilli.
The crisps contain 4 per cent dried Adnams' Ale and, along with the remainder of the kettle range, are free from artificial colours and flavourings.
They will be sold in 150g bags and are priced £1.35 (€1.99).
Kettle marketing director Peter Wilson said: "To our knowledge, this is the UK's first ever real beer-flavoured chip. As such, it will appeal to all lovers of good English ale."
The UK is the largest crisp market in Europe. Figures from market researchers Mintel suggest Britons eat a tonne of crisps every three minutes but between 2002 and 2005, crisp sales overall slumped by 9 per cent due primarily to greater awareness of their high fat and high salt content.
But according to Kettle: "consumer demand for real food without additives has led to a 20 per cent growth year-on-year in the hand cooked crisps market."
In addition, the company said growth of its crisps range had increased 30.5 per cent year-on-year.
However figures could be harmed by a UK charity's warning last week that eating one packet of crisps a day is equivalent to consuming five litres of oil a year.
Designed to alert parents as to the dangers of unhealthy snacking among children, the campaign by British Heart Foundation came under fire from manufacturers with the Snacks, Nuts and Crisps Manufacturers Association (SNCMA) saying the BHF had based its calculations on larger sized packets to make use of unhelpful scare tactics.
