KENYA – The Kenya Breweries Limited, subsidiary of the East African Breweries Limited has launched a new brand of cider beer dubbed Sikera Apple as part of its plans to grow sales in the category.

Sikera is a crisp, light and refreshing apple cider beer drink typically made from crushed apples with an Alcohol by Volume (ABV) of 4.5%. Coming in a 300ml bottle, it will be retailing at a recommended price (RRP) of Sh150.

The new drink was inspired by results from a recently conducted study on the trends driving the alcohol beverage market in the industry.

This was also coupled by the brewer’s desire of recruiting new consumers and responding to their changing tastes and preferences.

The introduction of Sikera comes after the successful launch of Tusker Cider in 2016 which was the first locally produced cider.

“The launch of Sikera Premium Apple Cider today, follows the hugely successful introduction of Kenya’s first locally-produced cider, Tusker Premium Cider three years ago.  

“Sikera’s launch is the result a recently conducted consumer study on the trends driving the alcohol beverage market in our industry.

“These consumer insights then informed our innovation efforts extending our cider category, to provide a broader variety to our consumers,” said KBL Managing Director Jane Karuku.

KBL banks on innovations as one of the company’s key growth pillars contributing 22% of East African Breweries Limited’s revenue in the financial year ending June 2019.

Ms Karuke added; “this new brand is geared to supporting our business agenda to accelerate growth in our innovation, which has enabled KBL to both recruit new consumers as well as provide a wider variety from around which consumers can build their drinking repertoire.”

East Africa Breweries Limited, KBL’s parent company, has in the past few years introduced new alcoholic brands in the region, seeking to grow and diversify its product portfolio.

The strategy comes at a time when the market is witnessing increasingly diverse and sophisticated products, partly brought by the entry of new players including distributors of global liquor manufacturers.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm is betting on the new products to acquire new customers and lift sales in the coming years.

The recent innovation by KBL was the launch of ‘Tusker Premium Ale in March this year.

The new premium ale is made from aromatic hops and crystal malt, targeting the middle-class in a bid to counter consumers’ increasing shift to premium and foreign brews from mass-market brands.