Hitejinro unveils lager Kelly to challenge Oriental Brewery's Cass

Hitejinro has launched a new lager called Kelly as part of attempts to reclaim its No. 1 status that it lost to Oriental Brewery (OB).

Kelly is Hitejinro's first new product since 2019, when it introduced Terra, another lager.

The name Kelly is short for "keep naturally," which means minimizing the artificial taste of the product and making it as natural as possible. The lager is made with Danish barley that has been germinated 24 hours longer than others.

According to Hitejinro CEO, Kim In-gyu, they crafted Kelly based on our long-term research on consumers' expectations and demands in the regular beer market.

Kim expects Kelly to be a local market sensation and help them recapture their top position,

According to market research firm Nielsen Korea, Oriental Brewery's lager Cass topped the domestic beer market with a 43 percent market share as of January this year, while Terra had an 18.6 percent share.

Hitejinro maintained its No. 1 position in the domestic market with its Hite beer brand until 2012 when it fell to second place behind OB. Hitejinro later launched Terra to overturn the beer market in 2019, selling over 3.6 billion bottles as of February. Terra's average annual growth rate since its launch has stayed around 23 percent.

However, COVID-19 hit the country in 2020 and kept Hitejinro from making as many sales at restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.

Kim stated that their efforts to reclaim their No. 1 position in the beer market are still underway, and they choose to change and innovate.