Red Stripe Beer Festival in the Middle of May 2014 – Weirdness Level off the Chart means Palcohol has Red Stripe sweating but Long Hair Hide it

“One simple way is encouraging persons to return their empty bottles to our offices at 214 Spanish Town Road. We still buy empties at $10 per bottle and $50 for the new one-litre bottles. All that money can come in handy if you have a lot of bottles at home”

Communications Manager at Diageo Levaughn Flynn, commenting on the Red Stripe Beer Festival in the Middle of the Second Quarter of 2014

Red Stripe, for no apparently reason, has decided to celebrate Oktoberfest BEFORE October comes and sans the Germans with their own Red Stripe Beer Festival as reported in “Red Stripe launches three-day beer festival”, Published Sunday May 18, 2014 by Davina Henry, Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Take a gander at the pictures from their official Red Stripe Facebook Page, as it tells a better story than my words can describe. Please note, you have to be a friend of mine on Facebook or join Red Stripe Facebook Page to see this.

Post by Red Stripe Jamaica.

No surprise as to the sponsors as per the poster above:

1.      Digicel

2.      Pepsi

3.      CB Chicken

4.      Rainforest Seafood

JA$500 to get into the Red Stripe Beer Festival on Friday May 23^rd 2014 and Saturday May 24^th 2014, which is Sabbath, so clearly I’m out. Amusingly the Thursday May 22^nd 2014 Event is free, as apparently Red Stripe has to get us to drink a couple Brewski's free and be Drunk before the Hard work of Labour Day Begins on Friday May 23^rd 2014.

Good to note that Telecom Provider Digicel coincidentally is running a World Telecommunications Day Promotion that ends on Thursday May 22^nd 2014, just as Red Stripe's Beer Festival starts, suggesting that they might have a hand in this as well! Still, the Entertainment lineup isn't too shabby either:

1.      No-Maddz

2.      Kabaka Pyramid

3.      Mystical Revolution

Red Stripe’s Beer Festival definitely tipped off my weird meter, as this is the Middle of the Second Quarter of 2014, not Christmas! So why a Beer Festival and worse for three (3) whole Days starting from Thursday May 22^nd  2014 to Saturday May 24^th 2014, with Labour Day on Friday May 23^rd 2014 sandwiched in-between?

This is guaranteed to make Labour Day nicer for the Barbican peeps in St. Andrew, as after they have finished labouring on Labour Day, they can saunter across to Barbican Beach Bar and Grill on Barbican Road in Kingston and sample one of the following Alcoholic Beverages:

1.      Heineken

2.      Talawah

3.      Guinness

4.      Dragon

5.      Malta

6.      Smirnoff Ice

They're also planning to indoctrinate more Millennials (ages 18 to 28) into the Art of Drinking, as they now have new youth-oriented Flavours on Tap as described in the article “Red Stripe to launch two new beer flavours”, Published Sunday May 18, 2014, by Richard Brown, The Jamaica Gleaner:

1.      Green Apple

2.      Raspberry Burst

3.      Red Apple

4.      Talawah Ginger beer

5.      Tropical Pineapple

Red Apple and Tropical Pineapple are the NKYOB (New Kids on the Block), with the other having being introduced over the past three (3) years. What’s interesting here is that these are all Beer Brands, the location and the Timing of the Red Stripe Beer Festival, which their Communications Manager at Diageo Levaughn Flynn is planning to make into a yearly Festival.

Why I’m writing about Red Stripe Beer Festival – Weirdness Level off the Chart

That’s what’s a little odd and really tripped my Weird-o-Meter! Hence my blog article!

Granted, it's just after they'd launched their jumbo-sized 1 Liter Red Stripe Beer product in April 2014 that's made with Cassava as stated in “RED STRIPE LAUNCHES 1 LITRE BOTTLE”, published Thursday, April 10, 2014, The Jamaica Observer. So one can assume it may be due to the fact that they're trying to get the wider public to realize that the Beer taste the same, just a different source for the Hops that they normally import.

From my point of view, that cannot be the whole story, as they’d long publicized their Cassava-to-replace-Hops Strategy for some time. Red Stripe had only recently lease 36 acres of land at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine to grow the first crop on Tuesday, January 7^th, 2014 with the blessing of the Agro-Investment Corporation as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Red Stripe and Agro-Investment Corporation signs lease Agreement on 36 acres of Land - Farmers benefit from Cassava’s Day in the Sun as we catch up with Africa's by September 2014”.

Also this is just a Beer Festival to introduce new Products and introduce them to the Public, which based on the location appears to be mainly affluent uptown Millennials (ages 18 to 28). Their Target audience, Timing of the Red Stripe Beer Festival and their plan to make this a yearly push smells more of fear than just a regular promotion.

Red Stripe Beer Festival – Palcohol means Red Stripe sweating but Long Hair Hide it

I suspect this may be a fear response to Palcohol, the powdered Beer alternative to Bottle Beer that you can have anywhere by just adding the contents to water or any liquid as described in my blog article entitled “Businessman Mark Phillip's Palcohol gets TTD Approval – Drinkers will judge Powdered Alcohol from Low Temperature Nitrogen Atmosphere Vacuum Evaporation”

The timing is right too, as Palcohol was introduced a month ago in April 2014, suggesting that this oddly-timed Beer Festival is being launched more to market the fact that their product is “Natural” as opposed to Palcohol, is a pre-packaged, dehydrated flavoured version of Alcohol.

Somewhat reminiscent of the brewing Battle between Coca-Cola and Sodastream, makers of the Soda Carbonizer product that eliminates the need to buy Sodas as explained in my blog article entitled “Coca-Cola to enter the At-Home Soda Market with the Keurig Cold by September 2014 - Bad news for Sodastream as Coca-Cola 10% will prove you Can't Beat the Real Thing”.

The setting also suggests this as well, as it’s being done to emphasize to the Uptown Crowd, the main Drinkers of Beer in the Clubs, Parties and other Social Events, that their product is just as versatile and portable as this new coming Upstart. This was a product I’d predicted would reach Jamaica very soon as Diageo, the owner of Red Stripe, may have seen how successfully it’s taking away their marketshare in European Party and Club Scenes, where Palcohol is already consumed.

Palcohol, Diageo Head Honcho’s probably reason, may either be coming to Jamaica via Jet-Set American or European travelers carrying back satchets of Palcohol strapped inside of their carry-on luggage for family members to sample. Or it may come down via the Businessman or entrepreneur or Party organizer shipping it down in Bulk to sell in Food Establishments, Clubs and Bars.

Red Stripe’s Marketing Department may have spotted it these establishments and are thus launching this first counter-offensive against this cheaper form of Alcohol. Folks, this is no ordinary Red Stripe Beer Festival. This is a first strike offensive by Red Stripe, Marketing style, against a coming threat of Palcohol. The Beer Barons fear Palcohol will upset their Apple-Cart in Jamaica due to its lower pricing point and portability.

Folks this is yet one more thing for me to add to my Google Alerts watchlist as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google Alerts Diamond in the Rough coming to Google+ to deliver Technology News”.