Losing their flip-flops

I was amused by the furious reaction of InBev over the Young’s Pub Company to throw out Stella in favour of other bland lagers.

Yes, it’s the pub arm of once proud and independent brewer Young’s of Wandsworth we are talking about. They have decided to to replace Stella with a number of other lager brands, including Heineken, Amstel and Pilsner Urquell. (Why they would want both Heineken and Amstel escapes me!)

This is from an InBev statement – you can see them foaming:

“Young’s is trying to generate some publicity for itself on the back of commercial negotiations which didn’t go its way. Millions of consumers and thousands of customers would disagree with Young’s view of the brand.

“We are still three times bigger than our nearest competitor, and a mark of a premium product is the number of people that are willing to pay more for that brand.

The brewer also suggested that the delisting be kept in perspective. The brand was stocked in 120 pubs in the Young’s estate, a loss which an InBev spokesperson described as “very, very insignificant” in the overall scheme of things.

“We can often win that number of new customers in less than a day,” the spokesperson added.

There is nothing about this on their web site, instead you find gibberish like this:

Brahma is serving up a laid-back slice of Brazilian street life with a memorable, new cinema commercial that will boost its appeal among a generation of lager drinkers.
Rather than focus on the nation’s renowned passion for football, Flip Pong portrays a novel game of al fresco table tennis played in true Rio-style with flip-flops for bats!

Premium products indeed! 

I could not care less about them choosing between Stella and Heineken. But it’s good to see some of the big players being snubbed once in a while. And if it’s insignificant, you should not rant like that in public… Maybe he had a pint too much over lunch? Or maybe he can’t drink Stella while watching Elvis on Fridays?

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Inland tourism

I went with my family to Røros for a long weekend, a town about six hours drive North of Oslo. It’s a beautiful drive up there, but it is a long way to go in the winter when the days are so short.

Nothing new when it comes to beer, though I see the beers from Atna have a good distribution in their home region, both in shops and restaurants. I never thought I’d see this in Norway, but I even found a petrol station selling the Atna beers in gift packs. I thought there was strict legislation stopping this.

Røros itself is beautiful. This is an old mining town with a rather tough winter climate.it’s The charming old wooden buildings have put Røros on the UNESCO World Heritage list, which means lots of tourism throughout the year, although most of the visitors seemed to be Norwegian right now.

Our hotel,  with charming rooms spread in several old buildings, focused on local produce – freshwater fish, lamb, reindeer and root vegetables, but cooked in inventive ways. They made an emphasis of recommending the Atna range.when you asked for an unspecified beer.

No beery pictures, just enjoy the winter scenery!

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