New Brunswick — Alpine, one of the province’s favourite beers, has announced a partnership with Encorp, the company in charge of beverage container redemption in New Brunswick. The pairing will see customers who are returning empty cans and bottles of Alpine Lager cut to the front of the line ahead of those who drink other beers, wines and soft drinks.
The service, which will be piloted in the coming weeks in Fredericton and Shediac areas, has Alpine-lovers rejoicing. Customers need simply fill bags (which will be stuffed inside packs of Alpine purchased from NB Liquor) emblazoned with the slogan “Tastes Like Home” with their empties and they will be ushered to the front of the line at redemption centres.
“Finally, the many New Brunswickers who choose Alpine time and time again are going to get the recognition they deserve,” said Alpine CEO Mark Braydon. “We don’t want them wasting time in line — precious time that could be spent out buying more Alpine and drinking that Alpine. The solution was obvious. Alpine.”
“Usually I have to wait in line for at least an hour to have some high school boy paw through my empties and toss me some coins and a crumpled bill or two,” enthused devoted Alpine drinker Todd Messier, 47, decked out in full Alpine-themed apparel. “Not anymore! It’s gonna be great — they’re really rolling out the red carpet for us. I knew our day would come.”
Through the pilot project, Encorp hopes to maximize the efficiency of redemption centres around the province by just giving New Brunswickers what they want. “People in this province drink Alpine more than anything else, so it was a no-brainer,” said Encorp representative Janice Higgins. “Moosehead’s a close second, of course, but they didn’t want to partner with us for fear we’d try to steal their moose logo, or something weird like that.”