Heineken has entered the metaverse with the unveiling of a new virtual brewery in immersive digital platform Decentraland.
The location will act as a home for its Heineken Silver brand, which the brewer has described as the first ‘virtual beer’.
As the company announced in a statement, ‘Our special A-yeast, usually brewed in horizontal tanks, has been replaced with A-Pixels. Forget hops harvested in fields, virtual Heineken Silver is brewed with Binary Coded Hops grown by NPC (non-player character) farmers. And of course, the whole virtual brewing process is overseen by Heineken’s dedicated Virtual Brewing Assistants, digitised stand-ins for our Star Brewers.’
Heineken partnered with Spanish street artist J. Demsky to help design parts of the virtual home for Heineken Silver.
‘Pixelated Lobster And Caviar’
The beer was unveiled at a product launch event where guests could enjoy pixelated lobster and caviar while also rubbing shoulders with Heineken ambassadors, including Thierry Henry.
“At Heineken, we believe that connecting with people is vital to human existence, like the air we breathe or the water we drink, and we know that the metaverse brings people together in a light-hearted and immersive way that is exciting – but it’s just not the best place to taste a new beer,” commented Bram Westenbrink, global head, Heineken Brand.
Taste Profile
But how does it, ahem, taste?
According to Westenbrink, “Heineken Silver is an ironic joke. It is a self-aware idea that pokes fun at us and many other brands that are jumping into the metaverse with products that are best enjoyed in the real world.
“For now, you can’t taste pixels and bytes.”
The brand follows in the footsteps of other products that have dipped their toe into the virtual world, with Carrefour launching a presence on the Sandbox a few weeks ago.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest drinks news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
