YORK, Pa.—Rutter’s said it has teamed up with Lancaster Brewing Co. to launch Rutter’s Chocolate Milk Stout. The beer is set to launch next month in Rutter’s 45 beer locations in Pennsylvania and will be available while supplies last. It’s the convenience retailer’s first private-brand beer product and Lancaster Brewing’s first convenience store partnership.

“Lancaster Brewing Co. is a first-class organization that has a lot of ambition and very talented brewers, which is why we looked to partner with them on this product,” said Sean Pfeiff, Rutter’s senior category manager. “Get Rutter’s Chocolate Milk Stout while you can because when it's gone, it’s gone!”

Rutter’s Chocolate Milk Stout has an ABV of 6.8% with a taste profile of cocoa and the sweetness of milk sugar. The stout will be available in a four-pack of 12-ounce cans and will retail for $9.99.

Such partnerships come at a time when craft beer is rising in popularity, as discussed in the NACS Magazine article “Crushing on Craft Brews” in the July 2021 issue. The percentage of adults who drink craft reached 44% last year, up from 35% in 2015, according to the Brewers Association, the Boulder, Colorado-based trade association for craft brewers. These figures are expected to rise over the next few years as more of the Gen Z population enters the craft beer age range, according to the association.

Data from NACS Convenience Voices indicate that 25 to 34 year-olds make up the largest share (47.5%) of craft beer purchasers in the convenience store channel, followed by 35 to 44 year-olds (31.3%) and consumers 24 and younger (15%). Males account for 62.5% of craft beer purchases. When it comes to beer occasions, nearly 60% of shoppers participating in the NACS Convenience Voices mobile intercepts program said they purchased craft beer to relax either by themselves or with a significant other, and 23.6% said they would share beer to connect with close friends or family.

In September, Sheetz released a limited-edition vanilla cappuccino craft beer dubbed “Project Vanilla Shteam Machine”—the second craft beer brewed in partnership with Evil Genius Beer Company. Sheetz has teamed up with other craft brewers for collaboration craft beers.

Wawa and 2SP Brewing Co. collaborated on a limited edition “Sunfest Strawberry Lemonade Shandy.” Wawa and 2SP have worked on previous limited edition beers in the past.

In 2019, Kwik Trip and Karben4 Brewing produced a beer made with Kwik Trip’s very own coffee, called Glazer Bean—a chocolate coffee stout brewed with Kwik Trip’s Karuba coffee. The limited-edition beer exceeded Kwik Trip’s expectations, so much so that the companies have launched three other collaboration beers since the introduction of Glazer Bean.