An Edinburgh Festival Fringe punter “thought it was a joke” after winning a coveted ‘Golden Ticket’, free beer for a year, Tattoo tickets and bottomless steak frites – all for ordering a pint of Innis & Gunn beer on The Mound.
Confetti cannons and a Mexican mariachi band erupted on Monday afternoon as Alexander ordered the millionth pint of Innis & Gunn beer sold this month during The Fringe.
Hilarious footage of the surprise shows Rapido Mariachi – Scotland’s leading mariachi band – popping up at Innis & Gunn’s month-long takeover on The Mound, sending Alexander Mezger, 51, from Germany into a frenzy with their impromptu rendition of the classic, “La Bamba”.
The Innis & Gunn team quickly debriefed Alexander on his amazing scoop which included an Edinburgh Festival Fringe, ‘Golden Ticket’ – entitling Alexander, his wife Bettina, and daughter, Anne to tickets for Monday night’s Tattoo.
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Not only that but beer was on the house for fortuitous Alexander as they were also handed a voucher for bottomless steak frites at the Innis & Gunn taproom in Scotland’s capital. On top of all of the frites, Edinburgh Fringe ‘chipped-in’ with show vouchers.
Alexander said: “We’ve been here since yesterday, and we’re flying home again tomorrow so I can’t believe the luck that I’ve had to get the millionth pint.”
He added: “I never win anything. It’s such a great moment, I’m still not sure what happened!”
Surpassing the millionth pint this festival at The Mound marks what’s been a stonking month so far for Innis & Gunn. The popularity of their offerings, from ‘The Original’ to their whisky cask bottles and IPAs, during August has already helped the brand’s 22% growth when compared to July.
Founder, Dougal Sharp, hailed the first fortnight of August as being ‘like Christmas’.
He said: “People come to The Fringe for a cultural extravaganza so we wanted to give our winner the ultimate experience. Our lager has been crowned the best in Scotland and it shows, as we’ve served over one million pints in just the first few weeks of August.
“A huge congratulations to Alexander and what better way to celebrate the big win than with the amazing Rapido Mariachi and Innis & Gunn Lager.”
Innis & Gunn’s ‘Lager Beer’ recently winning gold in the “Olympics of beer”, could also have pulled in punters to The Mound – helping reach that impressive one million pint mark.
Taking home two top gongs at the World Beer Awards finals, Innis & Gunn Lager scooped gold in both the Country and Taste Categories. It is the only Scots beer producer to scoop gold in the whole competition, also beating big names from around the world, including Estrella Damm, Madri, Stella, and Becks.
In addition,‘The Original’ cask-matured golden beer placed ‘Silver’ in the Taste category.
On the wins, Dougal said: “This is a very proud moment for our team but this recognition only confirms what we’ve always known; our lager is the best in Scotland, and it can compete with any in the world. Everyone who tries our beer is a convert.
“I hope that drinkers feel a sense of pride that something homegrown in Scotland can win against the most well known Premium Lagers in the world.”
Innis & Gunn’s month-long takeover at the Mound is well underway as part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As the festival’s official beer partner, they are inviting visitors to the Mound to get a real taste of Scotland.
A brilliant line-up of local food and drink vendors, including Wanderers Kneaded Pizza, Mimi’s Bakehouse, Frank’s Backyard BBQ and Edinburgh Gin.
Live music and performances have been entertaining punters on the Mound with Scottish trad music supergroup, Manran, kicking off an amazing programme of events with Fly Open Air DJ sets and speakeasy jazz sessions also on the bill.
