“Slavutich” returns the Guinness beer to Ukraine

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“Slavutich”, Carlsberg Group, one of the largest manufacturers of beer and drinks in Ukraine, and Diageo, a leading manufacturer of premium beverages in the world, signed an agreement about distributing the cult Irish beer brands — Guinness, Kilkenny and Harp in Ukraine and Moldova.

This agreement will allow both companies to strengthen their positions in the Ukrainian beer market. “Slavutich” has already had a strong portfolio of international premium brands of light beer — Carlsberg, Tuborg and Corona Extra. In order to satisfy different tastes of beer lovers in full, the company is now offering dark stout and red ale to its customers.

According to AC Nielsen, retail auditor, within 5 months of 2011 the segment of the imported beer in Ukraine has increased up to 190% in volume terms and up to 137% in money terms in comparison with 2010*. These positive changes give grounds for the successful development of the Irish beer brands on the country market.

Donal Murphy, CEO at Diageo Guinness Continental Europe: “We have been teaming up with Carlsberg Group for a long time as the Group is a distributor of our products in several countries of Europe, therefore when choosing a new partner in Ukraine, we have decided in favour of this company. Carlsberg in Ukraine is an incontestable leader in the premium beer segment to which Guinness belongs. We rely on the successful experience of the company and look forward to the next stage of the Guinness development in Ukraine.”

Peter Chernyshov, Chief Executive at “Slavutich”, Carlsberg Group: “Slavutich” is not only going to return the well-known dark beer to the market but also to increase significantly the level of Guinness distribution in the country. Light beer takes almost 80% of the Ukrainian beer market — this part of the market is highly competitive and has almost reached its limit. The appearance of the dark beer in our portfolio ensures high potential of growth in the coming years. Guinness is just the brand that will help us to strengthen our positions in the premium segment.”

Guinness is the most popular Irish beer that became a legend not only in its homeland in Ireland but also far outside. The brand was invented in 1759 in Dublin, and at present it is brewed in 50 and sold in 150 countries around the world. The Guinness beer being an integral part of the pub culture of Western Europe is gaining rapid popularity in Eastern Europe.

It is worth mentioning that in beer brewing the original Guinness yeast is used: 5 original yeast strains combined into one unique strain that is used for all kinds of the Guinness beer. In order to create the famous foam which, as everyone is well aware, carries a coin, the beer is enriched with nitrogen.

The main brand of the Guinness trade mark is Guinness Draught. Once, in order to increase the sales, the brand started to be bottled and canned. In Ukraine “Slavutich”, Carlsberg Group is going to present the Guinness Draught brand with the alcohol content of 4.1% in kegs and cans. On the Ukrainian market there will also be presented the Guinness Original brand — the Stout of deep dark colour and rich flavour with an alcohol content of minimum 4.8% in the bottle of 0.33 l.

Kilkenny is special Irish ale with rich red colour, which is obtained by adding a small amount of specially processed malt during its brewing. The recipe of the original red colour was developed in the XIV century by the Franciscan monks in Ireland. Kilkenny is semi-dark beer of 4.2% alcohol content.

Harp is a rather new beer brand which appeared in 1959 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Guinness brewery. Harp is lager of 4.9% alcohol content that is brewed from high quality ingredients exclusively: the purest water from mountain springs, the best Irish barley, German hop and Bavarian yeast.