Bar serves cocktails disguised as pints for football fans
A bar in Newcastle is offering secret “half pint” cocktails for non‑beer drinkers during the World Cup in a move that illustrates how far consumers will go to “blend in” with the crowd. db assesses the decision.
Making an interesting choice for a hospitality venue showing sports, the move to disguise its cocktails as beers so as to not alienate consumers who want to drink something different without drawing attention to their choices, could be heralded as a stroke of genius. The decision, however, to remove peer scrutiny by essentially hiding in plain sight could also be considered to be a strange one, considering the sector is already embarking on a new era of reduced stigma when it comes to ordering no and low alcohol drink among peers. Essentially, reversing the situation to ‘cover up’ the drinks choice of a cocktail over a beer while watching sports.
‘Just here for the vibes’
According to the Northern Echo, Mulligans in Newcastle is serving the cocktails, which include Mai Tais and Grapefruit Margaritas, in opaque half-pint glasses and these drinks can be ordered at the bar by simply saying: “I’m just here for the vibes”.
A spokesperson for the Mulligans venue said: “Spectators who are ‘just here for the vibes’ can order cocktails disguised in opaque glasses to blend in with the crowd while watching the World Cup. While having a pint in hand is arguably an essential for the vibes and aesthetic of the World Cup, the team at Mulligans Newcastle know not everyone is partial to the typical football tipple.”
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The drink for beer-averse sports fans
According to the spokesperson: “Spectators who are beer-averse can order their choice of drink and let the bartender know that they’re ‘just here for the vibes’, and they’ll receive their drink in a half-pint glass, so other guests will be none the wiser about what they’re sipping.”
The move, which hints that ordering a different drink to peers causes stigmatisation, suggests people are looking at making a drinks choice to “blend in” as a preference in a pub or bar rather than proudly declare what they actually want or like to drink, especially during sporting fixtures. Another way of looking at the marketing decision to push cocktails in this way could also be for a spirits-led venue that has screens to potentially get the most out of showing matches while still making its margins on its backbar. In this instance, the initiative could be perceived as a savvy one which is also able to piggyback the fact that many mixed groups of friends tend to all have a range of tastes and drinking preferences and makes the bar more adept at catering for groups.
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