Flavor fad

Grupa Żywiec, Poland's second-largest brewer, last month launched production of Desperados in Poland. The tequila-flavored beer, which is part of the portfolio of its parent company, Heineken, had been imported by the company and sold in Poland for some time. The move to produce the drink locally comes at a time when flavored beer sales are growing faster than sales of conventional beers.

Figures compiled by research company Nielsen, quoted in the daily Rzeczpospolita, show that sales of flavored beer increased by 18.5 percent from February 2007 to January 2008, in comparison with the previous year. The same Nielsen report shows that overall beer sales rose 10.6 percent in 2007.

The Desperados brand belongs to Brasserie Fischer of Strasbourg, France, and is a subsidiary of Heineken. The beverage is popular throughout Europe, and Poland is the only place outside France where it is produced. With competitors Kompania Piwowarska and Carlsberg noting impressive double-digit sales growth with their flagship flavored beer brands, Redds and Karmi respectively, it is no surprise that Żywiec has followed suit.

But with the growing popularity of these drinks, the question arises: Who drinks flavored beer?

"It is mostly women who drink flavored beers, as some women do not like the strongly bitter taste of [regular] beer," explained Piotr Wójcik, editor-in-chief of beer website, piweczko.org.

"Personally, I wouldn't describe these products as beer," he continued, "and at best I would describe them as beer-based drinks."

Indeed, Wójcik struck a note of caution at the suggestion that new flavored beers on the market represented more consumer choice.

"Theoretically we have increasingly greater choice in beer, but we need to remember that with the launch of each novelty product - such as flavored beer - on the Polish market, several indigenous products are forced off the market at the same time."