Ironic ‘In real life’ metaverse bar serves drinks you can’t actually drink – and pokes fun at the current craze for virtual reality launches for products best enjoyed in REAL life
– New 4% ABV lager Heineken® Silver launches a pop-up bar that doesn’t actually serve any beer
– The 100% drink-less Heineken® Silver IRL META-BAR is an ironic recreation of metaverse bars, where people can gather virtually but can’t drink anything
– All of the furniture, décor and staff in Heineken® Silver’s IRL META-BAR have been given a blocky, pixelated appearance inspired by the metaverse
– All guests are required to put-on ‘Lo-Fi’ parody headsets and will be handed fake pixelated beers by staff
– As payment for visiting the IRL META-BAR and all its surreal fake-ness, guests will unlock entry to Heineken® Silver’s adjacent launch party that heroes the REAL and authentic
– Here they’ll be able to enjoy real beer and other experiences – like dancing and talking to other people, (!) that are ‘B.A.R’, that’s ‘best appreciated real’
– Heineken® Silver, the world’s first ‘virtual’ beer, has launched as Heineken®’s ironic way of poking fun at brands releasing products in the metaverse that are actually best enjoyed in real life
Recently there has been a rush by food and drink companies to open restaurants and bars in the metaverse. But as fun as a virtual bar might be, you can’t actually drink anything in one. A digital beer doesn’t actually exist.
Heineken® is launching its new, extra-refreshing, 4% ABV lager – Heineken® Silver, and while the brew ‘virtually’ launched in the metaverse earlier this month, now it’s happening for real – and Heineken® is encouraging Brits to embrace real world experiences. After all, while the metaverse might be the way we live in the future, some things have and always will be best enjoyed in the real world. Not least great beer enjoyed in great company.
To officially mark the launch of the beer, and satirically poke fun at the metaverse food and drink trend, Heineken® Silver is opening the doors of the worlds first IRL metaverse bar in London – which doesn’t serve any drinks you can actually drink, of any kind.
That’s right: this genuine, real-world pop-up is such a pixel-perfect recreation of a metaverse bar that the only thing metaverse bar-goers’ will get their hands on are pixelated prop beers.
Staying true to its metaverse origins all of the furniture and décor in the Heineken® Silver IRL META-BAR has a blocky, pixelated appearance, the staff act like non-playable characters (NPCs) and the bar is sparsely populated. What’s more, to dial-up the absurdity all visitors are required to put on some of lowest tech ‘virtual reality’ headsets ever seen.
Of course, in true Heineken® style there’s a twist. As reward for spending time in the bar that comes with a no beer guarantee, all visitors will gain access to a very special and extra fresh experience next door celebrating real moments over a beer. Details are being kept under wraps, but trust us, it’s not one to miss. Entry costs nothing except for the time spent in an ironic metaverse-themed bar truly appreciating how real beats fake.
Matt Saltzstein, Heineken® Silver Brand Director, commented: “Heineken Silver is one of the biggest new beer launches ever. And while it might seem completely counterintuitive to launch a new beer in a bar that serves no beer, the ironic Heineken Silver IRL META-BAR really is a representation of everything that Heineken Silver isn’t.
Silver is a statement in a can, bottle or pint. It stands for embracing the real and authentic over the fake and superficial. Because while the metaverse will undoubtedly bring many benefits to all our lives, a digital bar serving digital beer to digital avatars is a pale imitation of the real thing. And when it comes to beer, nothing compares to the real thing: IRL really does beat URL, every time.”
The Heineken® Silver IRL META-BAR and Heineken® Silver launch experience takes place on 7th April for one night only at Protein Studios in Shoreditch, East London. To register for tickets to the event visit: https://ra.co/pre/1516516.
