Uptown Girls

@bhopps83 #BeerRun @run_beer

What’s to be made of a beer brand like Uptown Girl Beer? It’s a product from Minhas Creek breweries, and as the commercial states on the Uptown Girl website, it’s now available in Edmonton. Given the fact the brand is available in Alberta, there is a somewhat decent chance it will be available in Saskatchewan in the future.

I can see how one could perceive it as an aggressive marketing structure for a new ad campaign. Its target demographic is very specific, and it projects an image of self worth for that target. In short, Minhas knows who they’re going after. It’s that single, mid-twenties to early thirties urbanite female. Think “Sex and the City” girls, only instead of finding them sipping on cosmopolitans, they’re chugging a cold one.

Here’s the sales pitch: at 57 calories and 1.9 grams of carbs per bottle, it’s definitely cool to the last drop.

One way to cut down on calories with beer is to have less of the stuff. Minhas has done exactly that by offering Uptown Girl Beer in smaller quantities. Their bottles are 207ml, compared to your standard 331ml bottle. Granted, the soda-pop companies have been doing this sort of thing to reduce sugar intake from your average Joe Pop-Can for years, but HOW DARE you do this to my precious beer bottle.I’ve always believed that with fewer calories in beer, the closer you are to drinking water, so you might as well just have a tall glass of H2O, and call it a night. Ergo, you won’t be selling me any Uptown Girl Beer with a campaign for fewer calories.

I’m getting away from the point I want to make about why Uptown Girl Beer is good for the craft brewing business.

With names like “Cherry Belgian Red” and “Strawberry Blond Ale,” Minhas is giving a definitive demographic, whom I believe wouldn’t otherwise know these types of brews are around, a peek into the world of craft brewing.

As I’ve said before in previous articles, blending fruit and beer isn’t a new concept. Quite frankly, given the right Saturday afternoon, and the Sun has to be pointing in the right direction, but a strawberry blond ale can be very refreshing. Usually, blending beer with cherries results in a sour texture, so if you’re trying these out, be forewarned.

Uptown Girl Beer is selling their product to a select crowd, I am in full recognition of that, but I also think it’s a good idea from Minhas to have gone after that crowd.

I was able to perform a quick survey at my day job, targeting all the women in the office. All of whom fall within Minhas’ target audience with Uptown Girl Beer. The question I put to them was simple, I offered a look at the Uptown Girl website, and asked, “Would you try these beers?” Every girl in the office (I make it seem like I work with hoards of women, but really there are four of them) responded with a “yes, I would try that,” or something to that effect.

They now know that cherries and strawberries can coexist with beer and not just Vodka chillers.