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September 15, 2006
Finally!!!!
I've been trying to embed video on this page for ages, but could never swing the simple copy-and-paste "embed" code thing. It never worked. I think this does.
It's an ad for an expensive lager, Stella Artois - information here on the making of the ad
It stars a rather famous Polish actor whose bio is here.
Great ad, via Fr. Guy at Shouts in the Piazza, who swears it's all true.
Slightly better quality video here.
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
Did this play during the Superbowl? I saw it before but I can't remember where.
Posted by: Kevin Jones at Sep 15, 2006 3:21:38 AM
Nice ad, but don't buy the beer. It's promoted as expensive in the US; here in Belgium it has the same status as Budweiser for Americans. Of course Stella is slightly less bland than Bud but if you want a really good Belgian beer, made by trappists, try Orval or Chimay.
Posted by: Anna B at Sep 15, 2006 5:57:33 AM
Hmmm. If it tastest like Bud, forget it. I use Bud to make pancakes (replace the milk), and drink Yuengling.
Posted by: Karen LH at Sep 15, 2006 6:22:25 AM
Funny commercial.
Stella doesn't taste like bud. It's a more bitter taste, like a cheap Pilsner Urquell.
Ah, Yuengling. The local brew. Me, I go for their Lord Chesterfield Ale or Porter. Steamed some hotdogs last week in Yuengling Lager.
Beer tip: when buying anything in green bottles, get it by the 12pack or case to avoid the "skunk factor". Or at least take the 6 from the back of the cooler, far away from the florescent bulb near the door. The green glass lets in too much light.
Posted by: tony c at Sep 15, 2006 7:00:20 AM
It's true that Stella is the Bud of Belgium. While Oval and Chimay have the monastic connection,my favorite remains the resolutely secular Duvel (though the more monastic Leffe runs a close second).
Posted by: F C Bauerschmidt at Sep 15, 2006 8:21:08 AM
I see this ad frequently on european football (soccer) matches.
Posted by: tk at Sep 15, 2006 8:31:27 AM
Your top Trappist beers come from Sint-Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren. The other great Trappist breweries are Rochefort, Westmalle, Chimay, Orval, and Achel.
As secular beers go, Duvel, Karmeliet, La Chouffe, Golden Carolus, and the Delirium Tremens family from Huyghe deserve high marks.
Many beers are brewed by private breweries, but their recipes come from religious houses. The brewers have done a good job to state whether a beer is brewed in a monastery or not.
God bless all the people who go to the Trappist monasteries in Belgium to join the monks in prayer, too. If you ever go to the abbeys, give the abbeys a nice donation because of what they do not get from someresellers. Some distributors are good at giving them back a fair share of the price markup, yet others are questionable.
Posted by: Fr. Shawn O'Neal at Sep 15, 2006 9:35:13 AM
Belgian beer is better than American, in general. Even the Belgian equivalent of Budweiser is better than Budweiser. I agree with the other commenters as to the superiority of Trappist beers, although my favorite was Rochefort. The monks at Rochefort Abbey (which I visited while I was living in Belgium) make only as much beer as they need to make to support themselves, and have refused to expand their operation so as not to compromise their life of prayer. Consequently, Rochefort is not as common even in Belgium as many other beers, and I never expected to find it exported. But about two years ago I found one store in Ann Arbor that carries it. The other beer I enjoyed over there, which is unique to Belgium, is gueuze. It has a kind of sweet-sour flavor, and the Belgians like to blend it with various fruit syrups. In this country, you can find it in imported beer stores usually in the form of cherry or raspberry lambic, but I prefer the plain gueuze.
Posted by: Henry Dieterich at Sep 15, 2006 9:39:05 AM
Mmmmmm. Chimay Trappist Ales... Orval... but Stella?
Nonetheless, kudos on your streaming video debut. Berettas, beer, and... Brother Ice Diver.
Posted by: j-g at Sep 15, 2006 10:07:54 AM
To drink this Belgian beer would be a mortal sin?
http://tinyurl.com/nuug4
Posted by: David at Sep 15, 2006 10:42:20 AM
Is La Trappe in the Netherlands monastic or secular?
Posted by: Dave at Sep 15, 2006 10:55:28 AM
Stella Artois also runs a commercial about two soldiers returning from the front at the end of WWI. The guys go into a tavern, where the father of one of them is a barman, and this barman gives them inferior stuff instead of the Stella Artois which is also readily available. The commercial I just saw is another example of what I consider to be typical of this brand: tacky, tasteless (both ways), and eminently forgettable. The fact that this dreck is supposed to taste like Bud is a further reason why I'll never touch the stuff -- and Bud commercials (at least here in Quebec) are pretty God-awful too!
Cheers!
Posted by: Patricia Gonzalez at Sep 15, 2006 11:20:22 AM
La Trappe is owned by the monks of the Trappist "Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven", but they took the "Authentic Trappist Product" label off the bottles because of their partnership with the commerical brewery Bavaria, based in Lieshout. The monastery owns the recipe and controls the brewing process, but Bavaria manages the day-to-day operations.
Posted by: Fr. Shawn O'Neal at Sep 15, 2006 11:34:25 AM
j-g,
"berettas" are guns,
"birettas" are hats,
and "birra" is the Italian for "beer".
As an adult, a priest and a U.S. citizen,
I am entitled to use all three.
.
Posted by: Fr. Stephanos, O.S.B. at Sep 15, 2006 12:21:26 PM
I gotta go with henry Dieterich here. A Stella Artois is inferior to an Orval, Duvel, and many of the others named here. But to compare it to Budweiser is unfair. Belgians have higher standards. Give me a choice between a Stella Artois and any American macrobrew and I'll take the former any day of the week.
While we're on a subject near and dear to my heart, if you're looking for a truly great beer, try an Erdinger (German). Yum!
And for anybody who wants to drink good beer while remaining loyal to the USA, try the Goose Island seasonal ales (I've had summer ale and Christmas ale and both were very good).
Posted by: Papa-Lu at Sep 15, 2006 12:22:00 PM
Oh, and the commercial would be twice as funny if it were half as long.
Posted by: Papa-Lu at Sep 15, 2006 12:28:26 PM
"Even the Belgian equivalent of Budweiser is better than Budweiser."
Even water is better than Budweiser. (I would say some other substance is better than Bud but I think this is a family website.)
Posted by: Andrea Harris at Sep 15, 2006 7:34:46 PM
