Carling C2 wins World Beer Award

Carling C2, the first mid strength lager specially brewed to 2%, has won an award for taste in the under 2.5% ABV category at the recent World Beer Awards.

Judging took place over three rounds – the first stage was a blind tasting by judges from around the world who tasted the hundreds of entries. This was followed by a tasting and judging by a selection of brewers and finally again by the original judging panel, in the form of a blind tasting. The judging panel was chaired by Roger Protz who said that the overall quality of the beers in this year's competition had been impressively high.

Andy Cray, Director of Customer Marketing for Coors said: "The launch of Carling C2 is one of the biggest brewing innovations for years. We think this could be the biggest development in the UK beer scene since the introduction of extra cold dispense 5-10 years ago which is now the norm.

Drinkers have traditionally steered clear of lower-strength lagers because of the taste. Thanks to new developments in brewing technology, we're finally at the stage where we can produce a mid-strength lager that tastes just as good as a regular pint."

Nearly 1,000 different recipes were tested over a 10-year period before Carling brewers came up with a 2% alternative on a par with the taste of a full-strength pint. Andy went on to say: "This award is an important milestone for Carling C2 and goes a long way towards breaking down consumer perceptions of mid-strength beers and establishing a benchmark for other category entrants to meet."

The World Beer Award will be used on packs in the off-trade to promote Carling C2 as well as featuring in a bespoke POS kit for every C2 stocking outlet in the on-trade. This will also be supported by consumer direct mail, offering free packs of Carling C2 to drive trial.

Mid-strength beer is already so popular in Australia that the category is worth in excess of $800 million presenting a clear opportunity for C2 to become an everyday choice in the UK for people who want all the taste of a full-strength pint but only half the alcohol.

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