Some well-known brewers have launched high-end or even ultra-high-end products

　　Would you buy a bottle of beer costing thousands of dollars?

　　Our reporter Zhou Yi

　　A few days ago, Budweiser Investment (China) Co., Ltd. released the limited edition of Budweiser Master Legend of the Year of the Tiger. The price of a 798ml bottle of beer is 1,588 yuan, and 2,400 bottles of this wine are on sale for the first time; Tsingtao Brewery also released a high-end new product "Legend of the World" ”, the price of a 1.5-liter bottle of beer is 1,349 yuan, and the first batch of 4,000 bottles was filled.

　　Thousand-yuan beer has entered the market one after another, which has aroused heated discussions among consumers-is it value for money, or is it charging an "IQ tax"?

　　Price puts some consumers off

　　On May 24, 2021, China Resources Snow launched a high-end series of beer "Li", priced at 999 yuan per box, two bottles per box, 999 ml per bottle.

Hou Xiaohai, chairman and general manager of China Resources Snow Beer (China) Co., Ltd., once said that beer can not only be high-end, but also very high-end.

　　China is the world's largest consumer of beer, but the price of beer per ton has been at a low price.

In recent years, the competition focus of the larger domestic beer companies has changed from "grabbing the land" to improving profitability, and the specific means is to deploy high-end products.

　　Cao Dalong, who lives in Yizhuang, Beijing, usually likes to drink beer. In recent years, he is more keen on craft beer.

"In some craft beer houses in Beijing, it is common to sell a good beer for around 100 yuan, but a thousand yuan beer is really prohibitive."

　　In foreign countries, it is not uncommon for beer products priced at 100 yuan or 1,000 yuan.

However, in China, although the price of beer is undergoing a high-end upgrade from 3 yuan to 4 yuan per bottle to 10 yuan to 15 yuan per bottle, the emergence of products priced at more than 1,000 yuan has refreshed consumers' perception of beer. .

　　What is the selling point of Qianyuan Beer

　　Dong Jianjun, vice president of Tsingtao Brewery and director of the State Key Laboratory of Beer Bio-Fermentation Engineering, said that "Legend of the World" combines the century-old traditional craftsmanship of beer with the special practices of whisky, wine and champagne.

"This beer was created by hundreds of master brewers in the heritage. The craftsmanship uses a century-old yeast, returns to the ancient method of 'two-stage low-temperature slow-cooking', and uses a century-old whisky oak barrel for storage. 'I Legend' After more than 1,400 days of polishing, 61 rounds of testing and brewing experiments, more than 1,000 rounds of evaluation, 146 taste optimizations and more than 1,800 quality inspections."

　　In addition to conventional raw materials such as malt and hops, China Resources Beer's "Li" beer also uses raw materials such as millet, millet, barley, and lily; Budweiser's "Master Legend" beer uses a unique beech wood sedimentation method. The mouthfeel and layering of a fermented, full-bodied beer.

　　Fang Gang, an expert in the beer industry, pointed out that in the past, consumers' brand awareness of beer products was mostly low-end, and the consumption scenarios were also concentrated in non-business banquet occasions. Giant brands launched high-priced products in order to increase the brand height.

　　Zhu Danpeng, a researcher at a research institute, believes that the current ultra-high-end beer is more of a collection function. Although the shelf life of beer is very short, beer collectors are not for drinking.

　　According to the data, in the first half of 2021, Tsingtao Brewery’s sales of high-end and above products increased by 41.4% year-on-year; China Resources Beer’s sales of sub-high-end and above beer reached 1 million kiloliters, a year-on-year increase of 50.9%; Yanjing Beer’s mid-to-high-end products achieved revenue of 3.71 billion. Yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.88%.

　　Premiumization remains to be seen

　　Some people in the industry believe that the improvement of the original wort concentration, alcohol content, shelf life and other aspects is still not enough to support the price of more than 1,000 yuan, and it cannot change the consumption scene of low-end beer, and it is not as investment-like as liquor.

　　Some beer lovers said that the products produced by manufacturers to create high-end concepts will not sell too high in the short term.

At the same price, you can buy other imported beers with more complex workmanship and better selection.

　　Zhu Danpeng said that wine companies do not value the sales of thousand-yuan beer, but a marketing gimmick, more of which is to attract traffic.

"In the future, with the continuous development of the entire high-end product, there will be more and more such ultra-high-end products."

　　The Secretary General of the Beer Branch of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association believes that the rise of high-end products in the entire industry is one of the important manifestations of the high-quality development of the beer industry.

High-end products must have high-quality, extreme product expression, and meet some individual needs.

Therefore, the high-end development of the beer industry is a long-term process, not a short-term industry goal, and there is still a long way to go.