Time for a bit of mid winter tidy up. Boxes are being pulled out, rummaged through. Some things are being kept, others tossed. Never quite enough of the latter. Sometimes you find things that just are askin' for a bit of research. Behold:
Out of context this might be considered a bit sketchy.* But context we indeed have.
When my Better Half was in college she spent a semester abroad. Not in Paris or any such fun location, in Haiti! This was towards the tail end of the Duvallier dictatorship, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, but before it descended to its current state of anarchy.
This beer coaster came back with her. She recalls that the drinks available in 1978 were Coke, beer and rum. All warm. She never tried the beer, but has always been a fiend when it comes to using coasters for drinks. So what's the story behind this, er, colorful item?
Prestige beer is, or perhaps was, a product of Brasserie Nationale d Haiti, or BRANA. This was founded in 1973 by Michael Madsen. Madsen was Haitian, from a Danish family of some prominence. Prestige beer was first produced in 1976. My wife was in Haiti a couple of years later.
BRANA's other lines of business historically were mostly soda. Pepsi, 7Up, and more recently their own products King Cola and an energy drink called TORO.
BRANA had some early investment from Heineken. In 2011 Heineken effectively took over the company by buying up 95% of the stock. So, how has that investment worked out? Well, there's still a nice looking website but it does not seem to have been updated in years. There's also a facebook page, similarly showing no recent posts. So, how about Google Maps? Well, its pointing me to a plant called, oddly, cocacola lachine canada. It claims to still be in operation, and the satellite view shows trucks there. I tried to get a street view, but no go. I guess the conditions in Port au Prince are such that driving around with a Google car is not practical. Someone did leave a review 3 months ago speaking highly of Prestige, so I assume it is still being made there.
This is apparently a picture.
It is vanishingly unlikely that I'll ever sample a Prestige but if one comes my way I at least have the proper coaster. And I'm sure it is, as it has been for fifty years or so, the best Haitian beer.
That's a low bar considering it appears to be the only beer brewed there.
______________________________________________-
* Regards sketchy status. In something current it might be considered offensive to show a black guy with exaggerated features and platform shoes. But this was the 1970's. All of us, black and white dressed badly. My college room mate was from the South Side of Chicago. Great guy, like me he became an ER doc. Alas, gone too soon. He had a big 'fro and shoes just like that. The 1970's, ugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment