CANNED BEER SALES DROVE SLY FOX TO
NEW PRODUCTION HEIGHTS IN 2010
Sly Fox Brewing Company's production volume grew by 27% in 2010 to 8,533 barrels, spurred by an increase in can sales from 28% to 42% of the total volume. Dollars sales were up 29%. The performance is just the latest in a continued pattern of steady and significant growth since Sly Fox began distributing its products in 2004.
Managing Partner John Giannopoulos said that maintaining a strong and steady growth pattern for Sly Fox products has been built on a supportive and enthusiastic customer base. "Seeing sales expanding all across our market area is both satisfying and humbling and we are extremely grateful for our loyal customers. And 2010 was a particularly significant year for us as we celebrated our 15th year in business. We are really proud that Sly Fox Brewhouse & Eatery is the oldest surviving brewpub in the Philadelphia market."
Peter Giannopoulos, whose vision and persistence led to the opening of Sly Fox Brewhouse & Eatery in December 1995, added that "moving the pub into its new location without a hitch last spring was a great step forward for us and both our Bock Festival and our December Anniversary Party were bigger and more successful than ever before."
Sly Fox's canned beers, which were up in every market, were the engine which drove the year. Can sales volume to wholesalers increased by 80%. A significant factor in this growth was the release of Rt. 113 IPA in cans for the first time last spring; a new seasonal, Oktoberfest Lager, was also added, in August. Growth in can sales even manifested itself at Phoenixville and at Royersford Brewery & Restaurant, where total sales were 31% higher. Overall, the addition of contract brewed Resurrection in cans for the Brewer's Art in Baltimore, MD in the Spring of 2010 meant that can production almost doubled from 2009.
"When we became the first brewery in the Mid-Atlantic region to can our beers back in 2006 it was something of an oddity to a lot of people," recalls Brewmaster Brian O'Reilly, "but now we've seen canning embraced by breweries all over the country. It is the fastest growing package in the craft beer industry today." Director of Brewing Operations Tim Ohst says that, as a result, "there's been a lot less resistance from retailers and a lot less time spent explaining the benefits of cans as a package."
Sly Fox beers are available in 12oz. cans and 22oz. and 750ml. bottles as well as on draught. They are sold in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York and distributed by a major wholesaler in every market. The company moved its warehouse to a larger space, a 30,000 square foot building in the Pottstown Airport Business Center in January of this year.
