Heineken Premium Light is now available in a slim can designed to convey elegance, differentiate it from Heineken lager and other beers and make it possible to drink in more places, White Plains-based Heineken USA announced today. Previously Premium Light was available only in a bottle.

“Particularly in the summer months, beer drinkers look for ways to enjoy their favorite beverages in outdoor locations that may not allow glass packaging,â€? Heineken brand director Andy Glaser said in a statement. The new … can now enables them to enjoy a light beer with Heineken’s image and cachet, no matter what the setting.â€?

It holds 12 ounces like the standard beer can.

Eric Shepard, executive editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, a trade newsletter based in West Nyack, said beer makers have had incentive to find more innovative packaging to regain some of the edge they’ve lost to spirits. In addition to the traditional can for its lager, Heineken has a can that’s shaped like a keg.

“Spirits people have been a little more innovative in terms of packaging, so there’s a little more attention paid in the last year or two to any kinds of innovations in packaging that will make beer slightly different,â€? he said. “You have more flexibility if you’re selling an $80 bottle of vodka (than) a six-pack of beer. I mean, there’s so much money you can put into that and make it still be profitable, so they’ve been seeking ways to create some sort of packaging innovation within a tighter cost structure. … This kind of makes sense, you have a slimmer can for a lighter beer.â€?

A new TV spot will premier this week, followed by aggressive advertising leading up to the Fourth of July weekend. The “Irresistible� campaign will include full-page ads in USA Today, inserts in men’s magazines and spots on key Web sites.

Premium Light was introduced in March 2006. Its success has generated interest in the niche of imported light beers, which historically have occupied a much smaller portion of the market than domestic lights, which have half the market, Shepard said.

“Heineken had resisted for years putting out a light version. They were concerned it would hurt the mother brand, but it didn’t,� he said. “In fact Heineken itself had a very good year, and they came in with this new brand which immediately jumped into the top 10 of import brands.

It seems to establish and support the notion that, yeah, there is a market for imported light beers.�