TSINGTAO

Hit music, splendid light show, passionate samba, local-style barbecue and, of course, Tsingtao beer made a classical scene of the Tsingtao Beer Festival in Uruguay’s famous coastal tourist destination Punta Del Este on the evening of Jan 10, bringing there the charm of the East.

“As it was the first time for Tsingtao to bring its beer festival to Uruguay, we have to choose an iconic location,” said Santiago Perrella, organizer of the event. “Punta Del Este is a perfect venue where people will surely have an unforgettable get-together at the beach while enjoying their dinner.”

“The Eastern bloodline of Tsingtao has made it special and attractive,” Perrella said. “China is well known for its cuisines, and Chinese food has become a fashion and can be seen on the menus everywhere in the world.”

DJ Martin Bonaldo who performed at the beer festival, said Tsingtao beer has a refreshing taste, and the aftertaste is “as sweet as nuts with a pleasant taste”. “With a feeling of Eastern mysteries, Tsingtao beer is very suitable for drinking at the seaside, and many of my friends like it very much.”

But the beer festival was not just about beer itself.

Even before the event started at 8:00 pm, there were already early comers; and as time passed by, the beach went wild with groups of people immersed in a carnival combining food, music, dance and soccer. The climax came with everyone joining in the chorus Your Tsingtao.

Although being one of the most distant countries in the world for China, Uruguay is not a strange name for most Chinese people, known as a soccer superpower.

And Tsingtao has also become a well-known brand in Uruguay thanks to years of promotion. It has invited the Uruguay’s MMA champion for endorsement to deliver the idea of “breaking barriers and traditions”. It also can be seen at the annual Creole week celebrations in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo in March.

The sales volume of Tsingtao soared 87.5 percent in 2019, and along with the growing reputation of the beer, the city of Qingdao, where Tstingtao is based, has become one of the most familiar Chinese city for local people.

Punta Del Este is the second stop of the Tsingtao Beer Festival’s Belt and Road tour after Monrovia in Liberia, where it had attracted more than 40,000 participants. The tour is planned to cover 15 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, including Singapore, South Korea and Germany, aiming to build a new festival model combining beer, city promotion, trade and tourism.

“Our vision is to make Tsingtao a market leader in Uruguay and ultimately a pioneer in the food and beverage sector,” said Perrella. “The Tsingtao Beer Festival in Uruguay has allowed more people to experience the joy brought by beer. Many friends have told me that they must go to Qingdao to see the city and drink the local beer.”