Heineken is inviting TFWA delegates to visit them on their stand (Beach Village 2, #26) for a chance to win Champions League tickets.
Visitors can go behind the Heineken bar and attempt to pour the perfect glass of Heineken beer. Every effort will be assessed on the spot by the expert eye of one of the Heineken draught experts visiting Cannes from the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam.
On each day of the three-day activation (Tuesday, Oct. 1-Thursday, Oct. 3) the winning star pour receives not only the prestige of the draught master’s approval but also wins two tickets for a Heineken sponsored Champions’ League 2024-25 semi-final match.
Niek Vonk, Manager Global Duty Free & Travel Retail, Heineken
Niek Vonk, Manager Global Duty Free & Travel Retail, Heineken says that quality of the pour is essential when enjoying a Heineken.
“Since our founding in 1860 quality has been, and remains, the number one focus for Heineken. We still live by Freddy Heineken’s famous comment that ‘the only reason for ordering a second beer is the quality of the first.’ We want absolutely every single one of our consumers to enjoy their Heineken experience to the maximum, and a vital, but often overlooked, part of that is the quality of the pour. Let’s face it, when your order is poured badly, you notice!
“From selecting the best 100% natural ingredients to the quality of the final serve, we aim to optimize absolutely every element of the process. For example, Heineken is brewed with our famous A-yeast, lagered in horizontal tanks for 30 days and brewed with pure malt. There are far cheaper ways to make beer but our emphasis on prime ingredients and optimal processes drive the premium quality of Heineken and differs us from the competition.
“We have 258 checks on every batch of Heineken production and even have a test brewery that is bigger than a medium-sized commercial brewery – we discard all its production; the focus is purely on driving quality.
“Similarly, the Heineken Global Duty Free & Travel retail team supports product quality by focusing on our supply chain, including securing short lead times to ensure fresher and better tasting beer. Also, to further support our customers, we developed the award-winning BrewLock draught system – a 100% recyclable system that delivers draught beer at brewery quality to consumers onboard cruise lines and ferries.”
“Our 160 years of obsessive focus on quality is judged at one critical moment, the pour for the customer – so every pour needs to be perfect,” Vonk continues. “That’s why we are fully commit-ted to supporting our industry partners with crew training – guiding around 1500 cruise and inflight bar personnel this year alone by sharing the Heineken story and the technique for a perfect pour every time. Our draught master has created a 90-page manual on the pour – that’s how seriously we take it,” he says.
“During TFWA Cannes, we are delighted to invite all industry colleagues and TFWA delegates to visit our stand and enjoy a fresh Heineken with us and the chance to become a pour star. I can guarantee that the perfect Heneken serve ritual today has been created through 160 years of meticulous quality and care. We look forward to finding out if our guests can deliver the pour that such a beer deserves!”
