Loony for Lime
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:22 am
This is the second newspaper article I've seen lately over the furor for Bud Light Lime. I'm not deriding it, since I've never tried it myself. Thought it was worth posting. (Although I was interested to learn that cans are warmer than bottles!)
http://www.huntsvilleforester.com/article/142293
Loony for Lime
August 4, 2009 - by Janis Ramsay, STAFF
Almost like a kid at Christmas, Justine Marshall gets all giddy when she starts talking about her latest obsession.
“I’m so happy to have someone to talk to about it – my friends are tired of listening. This is like therapy for me,” said the Orillia resident.
She’s not alone in her passion for the newest product to hit The Beer Store – Bud Light Lime.
“I think I started with the Stanley Cup playoffs. There was advertising for it on the sideboards.”
Her first purchase – and she still has the receipt from June 3 – was a six-pack.
“I didn’t want to buy a whole bunch if I didn’t like it. I loved it, of course, and went the next weekend to buy it and that’s when they started to sell out.”
And that’s when Marshall turned into a super sleuth.
“I started phoning Beer Stores, and LCBOs in Barrie, Orillia and Washago, and they all told me they wouldn’t be getting any until the July long weekend. It becomes a mission.”
She lucked out and found some in Washago at the end of June. “They had seven 12-packs and
agreed to save me a case. Twenty minutes later, my husband went there and they were sold out.”
Marshall said after those bottles were gone, “we were dry until July 16” when the LCBO got cans in. “But they’re more expensive and not as good because you can’t make them as cold.”
And that’s when Marshall started noticing Sold Out of Bud Light Lime signs at liquor and beer stores. “I think they’re getting tired of people phoning.”
Visiting her brother-in-law in Toronto July 18, Marshall struck liquid gold and was able to leave the Beer Store with four cases of the clear bottles, which were piled into his compact car. A case of 24 costs $49.
“I used to drink Sol, which is a summer beer, what I’d call a woman’s beer. I heard that’s who’s buying up Bud Light Lime. It’s like a beer cooler.”
Marshall has gone so far as to paint her toenails lime green in tribute to her new obsession. But don’t ask her for a taste.
“When I’m going out to a party, I only bring what I’m going to drink. I can’t spare a square,” she said.
Barrie’s Erin Ziebart is convinced her friends think her obsession has made her an alcoholic.
She first tried it at a girlfriend’s house on a warm summer night in June. “(My friend) brought this cool, Bud Light Lime out and it was delicious,” said Ziebart.
Describing the taste, Ziebart said it’s mild and refreshing, and the lime taste doesn’t burn. “It doesn’t taste artificial. It tastes real and you don’t have to go through the mess and fuss of buying lime.”
Converted from drinking Alexander Keith’s, she said Bud Light Lime doesn’t give a drinker that yucky, stale beer taste.
“It was kinda fun, when I set out on the quest for it.”
One of her co-workers showed Ziebart how to go online to check local inventory at LCBO stores, so she could quickly grab some supply.
“People started to tell me they’d never get that until September. I don’t accept no so well.”
When she did find it, she loaded up her cart and paid $100 for three flats of the brew. At one point, Ziebart had 100 bottles in her home.
“Two weeks ago, we went to a pig roast and everyone wanted to try it. I think I ended up having three. I had to open up my cooler to prove to everyone there weren’t any more.”
Ziebart doesn’t think Bud Light Lime is just a trendy beer right now. “I think it’s a good product.”
Richard Musson, vice-president of marketing with Labatt Breweries, said in his 21 years in the job, he’s never seen quite the commotion over a product.
“Bud Light Lime was launched in the United States last year,” he said. “And in March and April, we were seeing Facebook groups starting to campaign to bring it to Canada.”
It was on schedule to arrive next year, but with the online demand, the company introduced it here mid-May. “We were ambitious with the volume we were introducing, but even that sold within the first few weeks and it wasn’t on the shelves anymore.”
If he had known it would’ve been so popular in Canada, less money would have been spent on advertising and more on production, said Musson.
Bud Light Lime is made in bottles in the United Kingdom. Cans were introduced in Canada July 20 and are made in the United States. The cans were introduced earlier than scheduled to help meet demand. “It took us 20 years to come up with the right combination, and we got it right. It was popular in the States when it launched, but it’s been more extreme here, because it was built up on social networking sites on the Internet over the last 12 months.”
Bud Light is produced in Canada, and the production lines here could be converted to make more Bud Light Lime, he said.
As far as what the future holds for Labatt, Musson said there is new product in the works, but it won’t be Bud Light Raspberry or other fruit flavours.
http://www.huntsvilleforester.com/article/142293
Loony for Lime
August 4, 2009 - by Janis Ramsay, STAFF
Almost like a kid at Christmas, Justine Marshall gets all giddy when she starts talking about her latest obsession.
“I’m so happy to have someone to talk to about it – my friends are tired of listening. This is like therapy for me,” said the Orillia resident.
She’s not alone in her passion for the newest product to hit The Beer Store – Bud Light Lime.
“I think I started with the Stanley Cup playoffs. There was advertising for it on the sideboards.”
Her first purchase – and she still has the receipt from June 3 – was a six-pack.
“I didn’t want to buy a whole bunch if I didn’t like it. I loved it, of course, and went the next weekend to buy it and that’s when they started to sell out.”
And that’s when Marshall turned into a super sleuth.
“I started phoning Beer Stores, and LCBOs in Barrie, Orillia and Washago, and they all told me they wouldn’t be getting any until the July long weekend. It becomes a mission.”
She lucked out and found some in Washago at the end of June. “They had seven 12-packs and
agreed to save me a case. Twenty minutes later, my husband went there and they were sold out.”
Marshall said after those bottles were gone, “we were dry until July 16” when the LCBO got cans in. “But they’re more expensive and not as good because you can’t make them as cold.”
And that’s when Marshall started noticing Sold Out of Bud Light Lime signs at liquor and beer stores. “I think they’re getting tired of people phoning.”
Visiting her brother-in-law in Toronto July 18, Marshall struck liquid gold and was able to leave the Beer Store with four cases of the clear bottles, which were piled into his compact car. A case of 24 costs $49.
“I used to drink Sol, which is a summer beer, what I’d call a woman’s beer. I heard that’s who’s buying up Bud Light Lime. It’s like a beer cooler.”
Marshall has gone so far as to paint her toenails lime green in tribute to her new obsession. But don’t ask her for a taste.
“When I’m going out to a party, I only bring what I’m going to drink. I can’t spare a square,” she said.
Barrie’s Erin Ziebart is convinced her friends think her obsession has made her an alcoholic.
She first tried it at a girlfriend’s house on a warm summer night in June. “(My friend) brought this cool, Bud Light Lime out and it was delicious,” said Ziebart.
Describing the taste, Ziebart said it’s mild and refreshing, and the lime taste doesn’t burn. “It doesn’t taste artificial. It tastes real and you don’t have to go through the mess and fuss of buying lime.”
Converted from drinking Alexander Keith’s, she said Bud Light Lime doesn’t give a drinker that yucky, stale beer taste.
“It was kinda fun, when I set out on the quest for it.”
One of her co-workers showed Ziebart how to go online to check local inventory at LCBO stores, so she could quickly grab some supply.
“People started to tell me they’d never get that until September. I don’t accept no so well.”
When she did find it, she loaded up her cart and paid $100 for three flats of the brew. At one point, Ziebart had 100 bottles in her home.
“Two weeks ago, we went to a pig roast and everyone wanted to try it. I think I ended up having three. I had to open up my cooler to prove to everyone there weren’t any more.”
Ziebart doesn’t think Bud Light Lime is just a trendy beer right now. “I think it’s a good product.”
Richard Musson, vice-president of marketing with Labatt Breweries, said in his 21 years in the job, he’s never seen quite the commotion over a product.
“Bud Light Lime was launched in the United States last year,” he said. “And in March and April, we were seeing Facebook groups starting to campaign to bring it to Canada.”
It was on schedule to arrive next year, but with the online demand, the company introduced it here mid-May. “We were ambitious with the volume we were introducing, but even that sold within the first few weeks and it wasn’t on the shelves anymore.”
If he had known it would’ve been so popular in Canada, less money would have been spent on advertising and more on production, said Musson.
Bud Light Lime is made in bottles in the United Kingdom. Cans were introduced in Canada July 20 and are made in the United States. The cans were introduced earlier than scheduled to help meet demand. “It took us 20 years to come up with the right combination, and we got it right. It was popular in the States when it launched, but it’s been more extreme here, because it was built up on social networking sites on the Internet over the last 12 months.”
Bud Light is produced in Canada, and the production lines here could be converted to make more Bud Light Lime, he said.
As far as what the future holds for Labatt, Musson said there is new product in the works, but it won’t be Bud Light Raspberry or other fruit flavours.
