“The
Friday night went well. Hundreds came out to support the inaugural beer
festival. Patrons were really excited about the samples and also the
international beers that were here. There was a lot of entertainment from the
different beer booths. Consumers were engaged with the prizes and giveaways,
and the interaction with the crowd was awesome”
Brand PR (Public
Relations) Manager at Red Stripe, Kamal Powell commenting on the Inaugural Red
Stripe Beer Festival
Looks
like the local Beer Industry in Jamaica controlled by the Beer Barons from
Diageo is safe from Palcohol!
This as from their account, their Red
Stripe Beer Festival was a resounding success, with plans afoot to make
this an annual event as stated in “Beer festival
success sparks annual plans”, Published Monday May 26, 2014, 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.
Red Stripe is deathly afraid of Palcohol and other powdered
alcoholic alternatives taking away their market. To this end, the Red Stripe Beer Festival, held for the
first time at the Barbican Beach Bar and Grill on Barbican Road in Kingston,
went all out in its targeted approach towards wooing Millennials (ages 18 to
28).
Aside
from the flavoured versions of Red
Stripe as mentioned in my blog article
entitled “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”, they also
featured the 1 Litre Red Stripe
along with its companion, the 1 Litre Guinness.
Red Stripe has their work cut out for
them for the next few years; if the DNews Video is to be believed, that “mad
frenzy” will be coming to Jamaica once the price for this product comes within
the reach of the regular consumer. Once it starts to be sold over-the-counter
in liquor stores in the length and breadth of Jamaica, Red Stripe will be facing certain
extinction!
Red Stripe worried
about evolving Beer Market – Beer Festival an Annual Event to prevent the
inevitable
Red Stripe clearly is fearful of
something and it’s not just the sagging demand for Red Stripe Beer. Even at the event, it
was clear that many patrons had a taste for the sweet and savoury, preferring
other Imported Brewed brands that Diageo carried such as Heineken, Smirnoff Ice
and Guinness as they're more for these sweeter beverages and less in tune with
the Red Stripe of their
Grandparents time.
Then
again they're Uptowners; supposedly, for them EVERYTHING has to taste of a flavour
of a fruit or sugar for it to be nice to their sense that are mainly excited by
sweet instead of gradually acquiring a love for the bitter flavour of or Local
Brewed Product Red Stripe.
The
popularity of the 1 Litre Red Stripe
suggests that it's more seen as a chaser than a brewed product in itself, as I
often use Red Stripe whenever I'm
cooking to add flavour to Rice and Peas or even Stewed Chicken as a replacement
for water. Most likely this may be the interest in Red Stripe, as it's a cheaper
alternative to a bottle of Wine for use in cooking or general consumption, as a
good vintage will set you back at least JA$5000.
Red Stripe has no choice but to make
this an annual affair, according to the upbeat tone of Brand PR (Public
Relations) Manager at Red Stripe,
Kamal Powell, quote: “Everybody is excited about the overall beer festival
package, so it's something we are looking forward to for next year. The vision
we have for beer festival is that it will become a new destination for beer
lovers. From a national perspective, we have been looking to rebuild Kingston
as a tourist destination and the Red Stripe Beer Festival will be one of those
activities in Kingston that will definitely drive consumers from around the
world to experience the festival”.
It’ll
be interesting to see how this all pans out. I’d hope to see some statistics to
indicate that Palcohol will
result in a decline in Red Stripe
Beer consumption. So rest assured a follow-up will be coming the next time this
Red Stripe Beer Festival is held.
In the meantime join the official Red Stripe Facebook Page
and the Red Stripe Twitter Page
to hear their side of the story!
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