Heineken Opens Useless Brewery In The Metaverse To Make 100% Pixel Beer

Image via Heineken / PR Newswire

On Thursday, Heineken launched a virtual brewery to join other big names in their transition into the metaverse. If you weren’t invited to the grand opening, don’t worry, you didn’t miss out—the company’s digital-exclusive beer is an ice-cold can of nothing, a fact that Heineken has made excruciatingly clear.

Located in the Decentraland digital environment, the virtual brewery is the homeground of ‘Heineken Silver’, a beer that the brand says is made “only from the freshest pixels: no malt, no hops, no yeast, no water, and also, no beer.”

Its hops? They’re “binary-coded” and grown by “NPC (non-player character) farmers.” And factory workers are, in actual fact, “digitized stand-ins,” Heineken disclaims.

“The result? An unusual and inaccessible premium lager with a tech and meta finish that no one can enjoy,” says the company.

Heineken did little to hide its skepticism of the metaverse at the press conference, where the 3D avatar form of Bram Westerbrink, the brand’s global head, dryly proclaimed: “It’s so wonderful to see you all in person,” before directing guests to non-existent “emergency exits.”

The point of the fluffy marketing stunt is that Heineken’s beer should only be consumed the traditional way. 

In a news release, Westenbrink re-emphasizes that the virtual beer is “an ironic joke.”

“It is a self-aware idea that pokes fun at us and many other brands that are jumping into the metaverse with products that are best enjoyed in the real world,” he adds.

[via Mashable and The Drum, cover image via Heineken / PR Newswire]