USA: Heineken Premium Light to be tested in the Fort Myers/Tampa/St. Petersburg area

Starting next week, the Dutch brewing company is testing Heineken Premium Light in the Fort Myers/Tampa/St. Petersburg area as it seeks to boost lagging sales in the U.S. This is the second time in four years that Fort Myers has been tapped to test market a new beer. In 2001, Michelob pioneered its low-carb Ultra beer here.

Light beer and imports are the only growth areas in the beer market, said Andrew Glaser, brand director for Heineken USA. “We have looked at where these two trends meet,” he said. Consumers are very image-conscious, said Pete Marer, with distributor J.J. Taylor in Fort Myers. “It’s trendy to drink imports, it’s like you are making a statement.”

Bars and restaurants will get the first deliveries on Tuesday, said Marer. A month later, it will show up in stores. The lager targets those who don’t care for the robust taste of regular Heineken. People like Dick Robeson, 47, of Fort Myers. “It has a bitter aftertaste,” said Robeson, who prefers Michelob Ultra and also drinks imported Boddingtons and Bass Ale. “It would have to be awfully good to pay a premium for it,” he said of the new Heineken brew.

A bottle will sell for about $3.50, similar to other imports, compared $2.75 for domestic beer, said Marer. The 99-calorie beer with 6.8 grams of carbs is aimed at “entry level drinkers” age 21-29, said Glaser. In the Fort Myers metro area, people 20-34 totaled 65,000, or 15 percent of the population in the 2000 Census.

Glaser also expects the lager to appeal to Hispanic consumers, who are more than 60,000 strong here, according to a 2003 census report. Phoenix, Dallas, and Providence, R.I, are the other test areas, said the White Plains, New York-based Heineken USA, a unit of Heineken NV, the world’s third-largest beermaker.

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