Coopers' Celebration Ale, originally introduced to help the brand celebrate its 150th anniversary, will be kept on as a permanent line, the brewer has announced.
Since its launch in May last year, more than 100,000 cases of the Celebration Ale have been sold, and while it was intended as a one-off product only, Coopers' national marketing director, Cam Pearce, said they can't ignore how successful it's been.
"We said that if it performed well, consideration would be given to keeping it as one of our regular lines. Sales have exceeded our expectations and we have made the decision to make it a permanent part of our portfolio.
"Indeed, Celebration Ale was the number one new product development in packaged beer by value for the quarter ending October 2012, according to Nielsen data," he said.
Celebration Ale is a hops-driven ale with a dark-red hue which incorporates three different hops varieties: Centennial from the USA, Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand and Pride of Ringwood from Australia.
"It’s also the first beer to be packaged under the Thomas Cooper Selection range of beers, which we expect will become an increasingly important range for us in the future," Pearce said.
"Celebration Ale is a good example of a premium craft beer and fits well alongside the traditional range of Coopers beers.
"The fact that it has been able to carve out a strong following in an increasingly busy sector of the market in a relatively short period of time is a strong endorsement of our brewers’ abilities," he said.