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Banks Beer Branded ‘Caribbean Lager’ In Sweden

Submitted by Andrew Nehaul

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Imagine my welcome surprise to go into the Systembolaget in Sweden (Liquor store) today to find Banks beer on the shelf. This welcome was not long lived when I read on the bottle “Caribbean Lager”, in fact practically nowhere could one find the word BARBADOS or that it came from the great island of Barbados.

The only reference to this was at the back in small print where it said Banks Holdings (Barbados) Ltd. Does Banks think that they will capture more market share by using the words Caribbean instead of Barbados?

65 responses to “Banks Beer Branded ‘Caribbean Lager’ In Sweden”

  1. Tourism Consultant Avatar
    Tourism Consultant

    No but Banks is originally Guyanese – it can only be called “the Beer of Barbados ” in Barbados!!

  2. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Any brewery company that wants to successfully market its product in competition with Banks just has to use the slogan, “Less Gas, More Beer (Malt)”

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Here is what Sandra Husbands had to say on FB:

    Sandra Husbands: Correct. Banks is a Guyanense product and that beer is probably manufactured in Barbados under license from Guyana. for many, many years barbados could not export Banks because of this issue. This is the compromise. As long as the foreign exchange comes to barbados it can be called anything

  4. Peltdownman Avatar
    Peltdownman

    Quite simply, Banks in Guyana was taken over by Banks Barbados. Sandra Husbands is correct when she states that the licensing issue was why the Banks brand could not be exported by Banks Barbados. That is no longer the case. I suspect that the words “Caribbean lager” are used because in Sweden, The word “Caribbean” is more recogniseable than the word “Barbados”. It also allows Banks to export beer brewed in the Guyana brewery if it wants to. Kudos to Banks for their efforts in entering world markets.

  5. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    “Banks Holdings Limited entered into a Convertible Debt Purchase Agreement with Latin Capital Fund I, L.P. and SLU Beverages, Ltd. (the Lenders) to finance the acquisition, installation and commissioning of a new Brewery at Newton in Christ Church. Apparently a condition of this Agreement is that no further shares in Banks Holdings Limited be issued except with the written consent of the Lenders. ”

    Sounds familiar?

  6. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @BAFBFP.
    So the “Lenders” control Banks until the loan is repaid.

  7. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Peltdownman

    Husbands is correct when she states that the licensing issue was why the Banks brand could not be exported by Banks Barbados. That is no longer the case
    ****************
    Are you sure about that? Last time I bought Banks up here I thought I saw the name Guyana featured quite prominently on the bottle.

    I’ll have to check

  8. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Hants

    “Control” is such a harsh choice of words 🙂

  9. EyeSpy Avatar
    EyeSpy

    Sargeant | June 1, 2011 at 7:37 AM |
    …I thought I saw the name Guyana featured quite prominently on the bottle.

    Sargeant, your eyes were not deceiving you. I was taken back when I saw written on the Banks Bottle, Guyana. I showed it to a friend who was with me so as to verify that is what I was seeing.

  10. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    All dem Guyanese haters i.e “Scout” what wunna gine do bout dat? I can guess the answer “I really don’t like drinking beer, I prefer our Mount Gay Rum”. HELLO …….Mount Gay is owned by the French now with some Bajan interest.

  11. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    I think if you look at all Banks bottles now you will see “Caribbean Lager” Banks Barbados and Banks DIH Guyana cut a deal to co operate and that includes things like joint purchases of bottles.

    As well as going after export markets.

  12. oh come on Avatar
    oh come on

    we ain own nuttin
    not even land in we own country

  13. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Anyone remembered when Barbados and Guyana jointly marketed a brand of rum for the European Market back in ’75/’76 under the name Dry Cane that began to give Bicardi a run for its money?
    @Islandgal. Pretty soon, the Political Correct police, will stop us from marketing our famous rum abroad as ”Mount Gay”.

  14. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    But lets face it, Barbados is not as well known , as we seem to think , outside of the (British ) Commonwealth.

  15. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Colonel Buggy,
    What are yuh talking bout? Remember we are “the envy of the world” quoting some bloggers. The key to survival in this global market is by building alliances and partnerships.
    Perhaps this is a lesson on cooperation and that no man is an island .

  16. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Vita Malt and Pitton Malt are likkin’ Banks products clear off the shelf. I don’ give a shit!

  17. Steupse Avatar
    Steupse

    I have in front of me (quite by coincidence) two bottles of Banks Export beer. One for sale in Canada, the other for sale in the US. It is a good indication of the hoops that companies like Banks have to jump through in order to enter these markets, as both are labelled differently to meet local regulations (otherwise known as non-tariff barriers). However, both say the following:
    “Brewed and bottled by Banks (Barbados) Breweries Ltd. Banks Beer is a product of Banks (DIH) Ltd, Guyana & Banks (Barbados) Breweries Ltd.”
    Clearly this has allowed them to get around the trade mark issue, as the Banks name is well known in many export markets as a result of tourism. “Legends” was not.
    @BAFBFP I don’t think I have ever seen a positive comment from you about anything Bajan. Perhaps you are symptomatic of an attitude that allows inferior imported products to flourish in this market. On the other hand, you might just like to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself why you hate yourself so much. Steupse!

  18. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Steupse
    Well written.

  19. Raw Bake Avatar
    Raw Bake

    Nationalistic prejudices aside, can anyone honestly say that BHL products are actually better than any other similar product available locally?

    In the current economic climate, do you really expect people to pay more for a product that is not demonstrably better, just because it says “Made in Barbados”.

    I am with BAFBFP on this one.

  20. Steupse Avatar
    Steupse

    @Raw Bake
    To your first question, often, it’s a matter of taste, which is really subjective. In terms of quality, however, I would back any of Banks products above imports.
    To your second question, I would say “yes”, because I think that they are better. That is what the Jamaicans and Trinis do. They root for their own. In our economy, our ability to buy things that cannot be made in Barbados, like fridges and cars, depends on our earning and SAVING foreign exchange. In the Caribbean, it’s my experience that only Bajans think that “imported” is the way to go. Steupse!

  21. Raw Bake Avatar
    Raw Bake

    I will suggest to you that while that may have been the case in the past, it is far from the norm today. BHL, Hanschell Inniss, Cheffete et al. are not dominant players because Bajans prefer imported products.

    Bajans today, at least those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, choose imported over local only because of lower cost. No other reason. I suspect the same holds true for Jamaicans and Trinidadians too.

    Saving and earning foreign exchange is important I agree but try telling that to a consumer struggling to make ends meet when every where he turns, imported products trumps the local ones on price every time.

  22. David Avatar
    David

    Let us not forget the many who are bleaching skins because Vybes Kartel doing it. It supports the view we support foreign at the drop of a hat. Trinis big up Carib, Lucians Piton, Jamaicans Red Stripe etc.

  23. Raw Bake Avatar
    Raw Bake

    Bleaching in Barbados is nothing new.
    More than twenty years I used to work in an establishment that retailed cosmetic products and bleaching products were some of the best sellers. It was a challenge sometimes to keep the shelves stocked.
    Nadinola, Ambi and Palmer’s Skin Success were some of the more popular products back then.

    As for beer, anytime you go a corner shop or rumshop and just call for a beer, you will be given a Banks beer. What does that say?

  24. Technician Avatar
    Technician

    David | June 2, 2011 at 12:29 PM |

    Let us not forget the many who are bleaching skins because Vybes Kartel doing it. It supports the view we support foreign at the drop of a hat. Trinis big up Carib, Lucians Piton, Jamaicans Red Stripe etc.

    Man David that was low…;)
    People were bleaching their skins in Bim long before Kartel. He probably wasn’t even born when Bajans were buying up Nadinola cream..lol

    Even though I am not a huge Banks fan (Heineken me prefer), I would say that Banks is the beer of choice in Barbados.
    What I have an issue with is the price of locally produced products….dont you think the price of a Banks beer locally is a bit high?

  25. Technician Avatar
    Technician

    You are so true Raw Bake!!!…..I could not remember the other bleaching cream names.

    When the guys are buying a round in my presence, they call for x beers and a Heineken….lol.
    The shopkeeper knows it is one Heineken and x amount of Banks.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    @Techie

    The rum shop crew drink beer (banks) but in the clubs and middle class scene the foreign beverages are preferred choice, that is our sense. Might have some ostentatious behavour driving it.

    Would you say in the past bleaching was on the scale it is now? Why Jamaica pushing it compared to others? Is there a trend linked sub culture which was missing in the past?

  27. John O Groats Avatar
    John O Groats

    Barbadian women always bleached their skin; Ponds cold and vanishing creams; Nivea. How old are you David? Man my mudder use to bleach, although it was not called that back then.

  28. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    @ Johnny groats ……..I have to correct some of wunna menz..Ponds, cold cream and Nivea are cleansing and moisturizing creams and NOT bleaching creams. Read de frigging labels. Man wunna now tacking on bleaching properties of any cream womenz using pon dem faces. Nadinola, Ambi, Palmers skin sucess, Drula, are bleaching creams. Now doan get myh vex now. But all a wunna did like dem brown skin gurls when dem pass. Some of wunna does really mek muh laff. Leff muh Ponds and Nivea alone plezzze!

  29. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Another thing, because it says made in Barbados does not mean it is better. I have tried several made in Barbados meat products and had to stop because some were sooo bad that I wonder why they were still out there. Things like English pork sausages, and some others are very poor in taste to the real thing. We used to have good milk nut that is now a thing of the past. If we want to make something, we must conduct taste tests to see how we match up to the imported products. These tests must be conducted in test kitchens and conducted professionally.

  30. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @islandgal246: “Ponds, cold cream and Nivea are cleansing and moisturizing creams and NOT bleaching creams. Read de frigging labels.

    So, as a mature man, I have to ask you this:

    Why do so many women go to so much effort (and cost) to try to hid their age? (BTW, “moisturising creams” generally dehydrate the skin. This is how tightening is effected.)

    We all age.

    Accept (and enjoy) it.

  31. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Chris Halsall my dear………to stop wunna menz from trading we in fuh a newer model! You haven’t a clue about skin care so I will give you your first lesson:
    1. Moisturizing the skin puts back in moisture making the skin regain its elasticity making the skin look healthy and younger, it hydrates and not dehydrates. Dehydrated skin wrinkles quickly, looks ashy, dry and flaky.

  32. Nia Avatar
    Nia

    LMAO at all the men in here who are suddenly experts on women’s beauty products!
    As Islandgal correctly pointed out, moisturizers contain humectants (usually glycerine and something else) which temporarily draw moisture from the atmosphere and into your skin – hence the dewy, hydrated look. The problem is, it is only a temporary thing – as soon as the moisturizer washes off, so too does the hydrated look and feel of your face. And too much humectant can sometimes dry out the skin because the glycerine will sometimes take the moisture from your own skin.

  33. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @islandgal246 my dear… “Moisturizing the skin puts back in moisture making the skin regain its elasticity making the skin look healthy and younger, it hydrates and not dehydrates.

    You may want to study the science a bit further…

    If the fat behind the skin is uneven, making the skin more flexible will simply attenuate the wrinkles.

    Tightening the skin (by way of dehydration) will hide the wrinkles (for a very brief period of time).

    @islandgal246: “…to stop wunna menz from trading we in fuh a newer model!

    At the end of the day, the woman is in control.

    Surly you know this….

  34. Technician Avatar
    Technician

    David | June 2, 2011 at 2:53 PM |

    @Techie

    The rum shop crew drink beer (banks) but in the clubs and middle class scene the foreign beverages are preferred choice, that is our sense. Might have some ostentatious behavour driving it.

    You haven’t been out clubbing in a while eh David 😉
    As an avid clubber, Banks beer is still the 1st choice.
    Some ppl just have a preference to Heineken and others for their own reasons…..taste, shelf life (seems a brown bottle beer is better), Banks could be a great laxative to some etc.

    As to bleaching, I think bleaching was always on a big scale, just that it was always done gradually and went unnoticed.
    The jack ass in JA just went overboard, he denied it for a while, then saw the $$ in it . We all know only too well the influence he has on his fans. That added to an already growing number of “black”people with low self esteem and inferiority complex issues, is it any surprise to you about bleaching’s popularity?

  35. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @Nia: “As Islandgal correctly pointed out, moisturizers contain humectants (usually glycerine and something else) which temporarily draw moisture from the atmosphere and into your skin…

    But…

    Based on simple thermal dynamics, there is more moisture in one’s skin than there is in the atmosphere.

    So, therefore, the moisture is mostly being drawn from the applicate into the chemical coating, rather than from the atmosphere….

  36. Technician Avatar
    Technician

    @ Nia…..

    In all fairness to the other men here….it is only CH who went down that line…IG246 will give him the shovel just now…. 🙂

  37. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @Techy: “IG246 will give him the shovel just now….

    I am comfortable standing alone.

    You know that.

    Hand me the shovel. 😎

  38. Technician Avatar
    Technician

    I know CH….I know ..

  39. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @Techy: “I know ..

    So, then, isn’t it so very interesting how easily one can create a pressure differential?

    Say a few things… Ask a few questions…

    And suddenly the silence is deafening. And no one will answer questions.

    Or, alternatively, suddenly the volume is overwhelming. And everyone will answer.

    At the end of the day, I would simply like to have honest answers to honest questions.

    Why is this so difficult?

  40. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    islandgal246 | June 2, 2011 at 3:50 PM |
    Another thing, because it says made in Barbados does not mean it is better. I have tried several made in Barbados meat products.

    Spoken like many a true Bajan Politician.

  41. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    My Banks Beer belong ta Guyana? Not fa shite. I dun drinkin dem as of now. I stickin ta my Absolut.
    Banks………….Guyana………………..dis khan be rite. Not fa shite.

    Colonel Buggy
    Ya baddddddddddddddd.
    But why you ‘eyein’ me so? you look like a peepin-tom. LOL

    Stupse
    I wid you. fa rale.

    Raw Bake @ 1:23
    “as for beer, anytime you go to a corner shop……………”
    Gaw Bleahhhhhhhhhh, I agree wid you.

  42. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    IslandGirl

    You and Chris ain’ gotta worry ’bout bleachin’ yah skin… unless two ah wunna want to become transparent …LOL

  43. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Chris Halsall nephew of Bonny Peppa,

    My mother once noticed her face cream becoming lower and lower in the bottle. She hadn’t been using it as often as she should so she decided to play detective. She discovered my father using her moisturizing cream after shaving . She confronted him and he told her that it smelled good and made his skin feel nice and soft. Unlike you Chris, many men use skin moisturizers, a rough dry scruffy face is rather undesirable when getting intimate with a woman. Even if the moisturizing process is short lived it feels good and makes one feel young and fresh, a bit like when you use your Viagra or drink bois bande. Like every thing else too much can be harmful.

    That is why oily skin is a life saver as a woman ages, it keeps the skin pliable and elastic. My skin still feels like a baby’s bottom.

  44. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    BAFBFP….I don’t need to bleach my skin, I am always outside in the sun and I wear a hat to protect my face. I am a lovely cocoa brown colour and I can wear almost any colour with the exception of brown.

    Colonel Buggy……I am not a politician at all. I was just speaking the truth and nothing but the truth. If the sausage is bad it is bad. Or should I say Wiener?

  45. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    islandgal
    is it ok fa a woman ta use moisturizin creme ‘down-there’ too as she ages, seeing dat it keeps de skin ‘oily n pliable’? de elastic, I in gotta worry ’bout. LOL. ya bad.
    I gine n apply sum now. I got work ta do lata’ron tonite.
    Murdahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, help ma.

  46. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Bonny even down dere can get a bit dry I am told as women age. Just remember not to use anyting like benjie balsam or icy hot.

  47. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @islandgal246: “Bonny even down dere can get a bit dry I am told as women age. Just remember not to use anyting like benjie balsam or icy hot.

    Girls… Please keep it clean.

    Remember, this is Parental Guidance (PG) material.

    The suggestion of KY might cross the line….

  48. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    islandgal
    It seems ta be workin in de reverse fa me as I age. Plus a lil spit nevva hurt nabody n it does always cum in handy. Oh Gawddddddddddddddd.

    Murdahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ya killin ma.
    ‘benjie balsam or icy hot.’
    Lawddddddddddd, mek peace.

    I doan kno wah my ‘lil’ nevew Halsall tawkin bout ‘keep it clean’. Um is he ‘lil’ warped mind dat in de gutta. Um doan get na cleana dhan dis, Islandgal. Ya kno?
    wuhloss, wuhlosssssss

  49. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Bonny we talking bout Beer , Banks from here and Guyana. Yuh know dat beer pon pork does mek a sweet roast?

  50. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    islandgal
    when i pour beer pun my pork I in got a clue how um does taste. I am no contortionist.
    LOLLL, I gine n sleep.
    nite-nite.

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