Heineken swings
in Puerto Rico
I
He was once described as
'the man with beer, not
blood, in his veins.' Not
because of an alcoholic over
indulgence, but because of
his great love for the purely
natural product and its best
possible presentation. Gian-
paolo di Prete is a beer man
through and through. And, in
a country where beer still has
to build up its own culture,
this can sometimes be a little
frustrating.
Love
Instructions
Preference
In San Juan, the capital of the Caribbean island of Puerto
Rico, the Heineken Jazz Festival was organised for the third
time a number of months ago. The festival lasted four eve
nings and was held in the open air on a big square in the old
part of San Juan city. The crowds of enthusiasts who flocked
along to the event were able to watch and listen to a selection
of latin jazz musicians, the main attractions being Tania
Maria, Hilton Ruiz and Paquito D'Rivera.
Draught Heineken specially imported from Holland for the
occasion was served from marquees on the square.
In addition, Heineken advertising materials such as cool bags
and beer mugs were on sale, plus T-shirts and posters of the
festival
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 23 PAGE 8
4 The man with beer in his veins'
Di Prete taps a beer lovingly and with feeling.
Di Prete started working for
Birra Dreher in 1979. He was one
of the twelve employees in the
technical service department for
tap dispensing installations. The
twelve of them were responsible
for servicing 1,600 dispensers. In
as little as ten years the number of
draught outlets has grown to
22,000 and Di Prete has built up a
network offering the fastest possi
ble installation, repair and mainte
nance service for beer taps. And
it's a service for which there's no
charge.
Seven regional coordinators
report to him on day-to-day events.
Forty service mechanics are on the
Birra Dreher payroll. Eighty others
are employed by small firms run by
people who were formerly with
Birra Dreher and have now set up
in business for themselves. Six
depots, spread throughout the
length and breadth of Italy, keep
the essential stocks of spare parts.
"It's of the utmost importance
that we teach employees to love the
business and the product. For they,
too, are representatives of Heine-
ken. And if we, both production
and technical service department,
work together to make sure that the
consumer gets an excellent quality
product, then I'm convinced that
our business will remain in good
health."
During their work Di Prete's staff
tend to come across quite a lack of
know-how amongst bar owners.
No wonder, since Italy has not
(yet) developed a real beer culture.
So, Italian bar owners are not all
that hot when it comes to the
mechanics of dispensing installa
tions? "Well, sometimes we get a
phone call from someone complain
ing that the dispenser's broken,
there's no beer flowing from the tap.
When we check it out, we find that
the carbon dioxide cylinder is
empty. That lack of know-how can
be irritating sometimes, but you've
got to remember: they are your cus
tomers", insists Di Prete.
To increase the standard of that
know-how instructions to bar own
ers are very important. When a
new dispenser tap is installed,
every proprietor is presented with
a pile of fact sheets. These show
him the basic rules, such as the
need to keep a close watch on prod
uct freshness.
In his work Di Prete has always
kept track of new developments by
Heineken's 'Horeca Tap Service' in
Amsterdam. "We have made a few
adaptations to the dispensing sys
tems here, one reason being that
the Dutch climate differs from that
here in Italy. A cooling coil that
works excellently in Holland may
not work so well here. The tube is
too wide and it doesn't cool down
the beer enough in our warm cli
mate." A second aspect which
needs to be taken into account in
Italy is that the dispenser is less fre
quently in use. "In Italy drinking
frequency is lower, and so the beer
stays longer in the section between
the cooling installation and the tap.
As a result the beer gets tepid and
starts to foam more. That's why
we've decided to put some extra
cooling in that section."
Gianpaolo di Prete is a self-con
fessed beer connoisseur, his prefer
ence being Heineken beer. In fact,
he prefers Heineken so much that
he even asks for it in a bar which
he knows doesn't sell Heineken.
This is also one of the ways he pro
motes the brand name.
We were interested in hearing
what Di Prete thought about the
brands sold by Birra Dreher.
"Heineken is an excellent beer with
a good taste. McFarland is more a
beer for young people in a trendy
bar. Dreher, in my opinion, has a
more full-bodied taste than Heine
ken. The quality of Henninger is
very good; it comes close to that of
Heineken. Golden Fire is, I feel, a
perfect beer, though it is very
heavy. It's a real speciality beer and
that means it will never really sell
in great volume. To be honest, I
prefer Heineken beer. When I'm in
a bar where I know that they don't
sell Heineken, I always ask for
Heineken by name." That's his lit
tle way of helping to make sure
more people get to know the qual
ity of Heineken beer.
Giovanni Hidalgo, one of the attractions at the festival.