United Breweries Forays Into The Super-Premium Strong Beer Market By Launching Amstel

There’s no disputing that United Breweries is one of the front-runners in the commercial beer market here in the subcontinent. Now, UB is launching Amstel, from under the umbrella of Heineken in order to offer up a strong competitor to Carlsberg Elephant.

“Super-premium is small, but growing segment at a scorching pace of about 40 percent while mainstream-premium the bigger slice is witnessing sluggish sales with just 4-5 percent growth. With this launch, we are now present across categories,” said UB chief marketing officer Samar Singh Sheikhawat.

Instead of importing Amstel, like UB has done with a few other brands like Sol, and Edelweiss, the beer will be manufactured at a brewery near Mysore with plans to expand to 5 or 6 more breweries in the next two years. Amstel will be priced on par with Carlsberg Elephant so you can expect to buy a 650 ml bottle of Amstel for Rs. 140, while a 500 ml can will set you back by Rs 105.

Keep a lookout in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, where the beer will first be available, for Amstel in the next couple of months and let us know how it compares to the other strong beers in the Indian market.