Specialty Beer Wholesale

Specialty lines — Duvel, Delirium Tremens, Victoria — are not volume propositions and should not be planned as such. They occupy a small share of a container and earn their place by giving a retail or on-trade customer something distinctive to list alongside the mainstream range.

The practical considerations are shelf life, strength and presentation. Higher-ABV beers generally carry longer shelf life, which suits slower-moving specialist stock, but they also attract higher excise duty and often require more careful handling to preserve the packaging that justifies their price. Two or three pallets within a mixed container is the normal shape of a specialty requirement.