An unoriginal idea whose time has not come

As it’s that time of the year (a time I would rather not explain in explicit detail), I’ve been feeling haunted lately. Feeling haunted is a not altogether unpleasant experience, although it it is a little like nostalgia on steroids. Nostalgia is to haunting as pot is to heroin. Or as beer is to Everclear. Whatever.

The haunting has been pleasantly aggravated by some recent reading, which, when coupled with my recent dabblings in beer brewing, led me to suddenly have what I thought was an original idea, but which a simple Google search revealed to be singularly unoriginal. That’s because (as I have learned many times), there is no such thing as a new idea on the Internet.

Anyway, “my” idea was that it would be fun to brew Transylvanian beer, perhaps with genuine Carpathian Mountain water. The American consumer thirst for the macabre being what it is (and me being the morbid sort that I am) it struck me as almost a no-brainer that the man on the label and the name of such a beer would have to be Dracula, Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler…

I had a feeling that this would certainly not be an original idea, and boy was I right!

Not only is there such a beer, but it is brewed right there on Dracula’s land, and the label is owned by Heineken International (which is busily buying up Transylvanian breweries).

Which is fine with me, as I am in no position to do anything other than come up with unoriginal ideas. However, I find it more than a little annoying that such a fine marketing concept has gone absolutely nowhere in the United States where I am sure it would be successful. The above beer is not available anywhere in this country. I scoured the Internet and found nothing, and I even called a major beer outlet (which can find and order even the most obscure brands)  and was told that it did not show up on their large database of beers that can be ordered. Meaning that it is not available in the United States, period.

Whether this is a marketing opportunity for some clever shark of an MBA student, I don’t know, but if there are any who read this, my advice is to jump on it right now! Stake out some new turf! Go for the jugular!


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One response to “An unoriginal idea whose time has not come”

  1. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    I’m half Romanian (the land of Transylvania) and was hoping for a beer from the old country. No such luck. Well I’m Russian on my father’s side. Maybe I can have a Russian beer.