It’s been more than a month since the fateful March 11 Japan tsunami and still thousands remain homeless and lost. Japanese beer and whisky giant just launched a series of TV commercials to inspire their countrymen and give hope to those affected.

Suntory enlisted 71 popular Japanese stars to sing two beloved ballads, “Ue wo Muite, Arukou” (I Look up While I Walk) and “Miagetegoran Yoru no Hoshi wo” (Look up at the Night Sky), which are filled with sad yet hopeful messages. Even though the tunes are in Japanese, most of you would be familiar with the English version titled “Sukiyaki”. Having employed some of Japan”s biggest celebrities including Koyuki Kato (Kakubin Whisky) and Eikichi Yazawa (The Premium Malts), these same stars appear in the new commercials to express their support for the victims of the recent tragedies. Koyuki Kato, some of you may remember, acted opposite Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai and is also the face of skincare brand SK-II.

To all our friends in Japan, we continue to pray for you.

Apollo 11’s foray into space the summer of 1969 turned out to be third time “lucky” for NASA when the men onboard successfully navigated their way to the moon, planted their feet and came back safely. But “lucky” isn’t an inclusive word to describe this immortalized moment in the history of mankind. Technological advances, reserves of greenback, weather, prayers and sheer human courage were just among the list of conditions that created that moment. But it also comes down to A, B, C – Armstrong, Buzz and a particular Collins – were the names of the crew who made that journey.

If Carlsberg had their way, they would have loved to have been the C-word propelling Apollo 11 to a first ever lunar landing. We’re sure the Danes would have sneaked in a case of beer aboard Apollo 11 but what they have done instead is launch a new Spaceman advertising campaign and tagline to appeal to the sense of adventure and courage inside all of us, challenging us to do the right thing in every situation and earning a Carlsberg as a reward. Hence the introduction of a new tagline “That calls for a Carlsberg” ushering out the distinctive “Probably the best beer in the world.”

A Crown, a Hope Leaf and a beer born in Copenhagen in 1847

Accompanying this change is new packaging with a refreshed logo which have hit our stores and kopitiams already, see if you can tell the subtle differences, it took us awhile to figure it out! Well, we dare say this is one of the best Carlsberg TV commercials we’ve seen on our screens in recent years. There’s always been an irreverent sense of humour to the Carlsberg ads like the recent cheerleaders, pyramid commercial during the World Cup. But it’s the Spaceman commercial that takes the cake with a Jerry Bruckheimer ending, leaving us to wonder if there’ll be a sequel to it. After all, what good is a beer in hand when you can’t taste it? Not that it would have mattered anyway since normal beer cannot be consumed in space as it is on earth. Read our previous post of Vostock Space Beer to find out why.

And this concludes our first post in 2 weeks, now this calls for a Carlsberg!

Anyways, we came across this television commercial medley from Cheers – we seem to have seen the creative concept of the holy grail parking lot version though – in a Western beer ad. Anyone recall? We can certainly relate to the theme of the ads – the celebration of the small victories that make our otherwise mundane everyday existence such a chore. The 3rd commercial is our favourite. Maybe cos crab vermicelli is one of our favourite Thai dishes too.

We’re guessing pretty much the same if somone hadn’t sent this Tui Beer commercial to us. But if you were adventurous enough back in 2003, you might have tasted TOUCHÉ biere nouvelle, which was a beer brewed with Champagne Yeast introduced by Asia Pacific Breweries. It was an innovation of Andrea Teo (the creator of the sitcom Under One Roof) at the parent of Tiger beer where she combined the twin European traditions of wine making and beer brewing to form this champagne beer.

TOUCHÉ biere nouvelle, from APB

My one experience with it left me thinking that I should have just drank a regular beer and then a normal champagne instead. The fate of Touche? We’re not sure neither have we seen it recently.

Now, back to the TV commercial of Tui, it’s a Kiwi beer and after watching it, we just wanna get our hand on some Tui Beer! Not sure if it’s available in Singapore but if you do know where we can get it, let us know. And we’re still clueless why Grisetta and Davina were fired just for being ugly women with obvious facial hair. Doesn’t that count as discrimination?

The making of a good head.

We haven’t seen this TV commercial being aired on cable here but a friend in London alerted to us to it as it’s got a simple, sexy idea, good quality production and quite a catchy French tune! It’s been getting good attention in Europe, let’s hope we get to see it on our telly soon!

Watch it here…

Codename: Jazmine

Chicks selling beer, a proven forumla since the days of Adam and Eve. We’re guessing that Adam was tricked into mashing up the apple into cider in his mouth. Once again, we’ve been alerted to an extremely sexy way to sell beer. We had the good fortune of trying Jaz beer during the Beer Fest Asia back in June. By the last day, the Jaz beer chicks were giving away their beer for free by the buckets, no prizes for guessing why.

If those Jaz beer chicks had the same chugging talents as Sharon below, there would have been no beer left by the end of the Beer Fest. Watch this video and see the extremely talented Sharon chug her beer in 11 secs! We’ve got our stable of beer chicks, but Sharon takes the lot in this video!

Sharon, otherwise known as BeerBeary, is very likely a promotional tool by Jaz Beer, Malaysia’s first home beer. And a very smart tactic it is! They’ve also hired Gillian Chung as their brand ambassador who’s been Jazing it up in Malaysia. For our Singapore readers, you’ll be able to find Jaz beer at selected kopitiams, we did see it at People’s Park hawker centre. It’s alright in taste, very light on taste. Let us know if you like it.

Jazing it up

How to tell your better half you are not having beer with friends. Andes, the leading beer in the Andina Region of Argentina, is winning awards for Andes Teletransporter, a revolutionary invention capable of doing something almost impossible. Men can now go to a bar and share an Andes beer with friends without having any problems with their girlfriends. Andes Teletransporter Booths have been installed at the main bars of Mendoza, Argentina, giving men the capacity to be somewhere else while talking to their girlfriends. The campaign won Grand Prix for Outdoor, Silver for Direct, and Bronze for Promotion and Activation, at Cannes International Advertising Festival 2010. In our books, this one rivals the benchmark that Heine ads have consistently set. Can’t wait to see more from Andes – we’ll be watching them. So now its a beer we tentatively WANT to drink just cos of its cool factor.

I had a bartender who put my beer on his tab when he took too long to bring the beer to me. And his words will forever be etched in my memory, “One should never have to wait for beer.”

If you like your beers cold, you’ve got a want one of these machines developed by Asahi. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what the advertisement is saying but it seems as simple as popping a beer can (preferably an Asahi Super Dry) into a revolving beer chilling machine and out it comes, chilled below zero degrees. It’s not out in the shops yet but I think if you collect seals on Asahi Super Dry cans, you’ll get your own machine! So get drinking, get chilling! Thanks Justin for the lead, can you drink 96 cans and pass one of machines to me for my birthday?

Someone sent us this post which featured their ranking of the Top 15 Japanese Beer (Girls) based on the 3B’s – Beers, Bikinis and Beaches. We couldn’t agree more. Check it out here.