New Wireless Surger Unit with rechargeable batteries

I've recently been sent a new modified version of the small tabletop/home version of the Surger Unit. 

Bo Dahlström, from Sweden, recently contacted me via this blog to inform me that he is now selling these wireless Surger Units from his online store "Sejdelshoppen.se" and was kind enough to send me one of the units to check it out for myself. 

 The unit is pretty similar to the original small tabletop Surger Unit but is slightly chunkier, no doubt due to the rechargeable batteries inside. The Guinness Harp is now the familiar gold colour instead of white. The Surger button is now larger and easier to press and also lights up when the unit surges. This light also flashes when the unit is plugged into the supplied charger unit. The black typing has now been removed from the metal plate (a good idea, as the typing always peeled off after using the old Surger Units a number of times). The unit also comes with an instruction leaflet. 

 This unit would be handy for taking on picnics or going to the beach. What would be nicer than lying on a nice sandy beach with a cool box loaded with Surger cans and your new wireless Surger Unit. The unit would also be ideal for small commercial premises who wouldn't need to worry about the unit being near a power socket. They could even pour the Surger at your table and Surge it right in front of you! 

Check the unit out for yourselves at Sejdelshoppen.se

New Guinness Surger Unit For 2012

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly 2 years since my last post to this blog. Anyway, as you can see from the attached photo, there is now a 3rd Surger unit available. This one seems to be targetted at smaller premises which don't have enough room for the full size bar-top font. Again, the unit seems to be available to commercial outlets only, although there are a number of units already appearing on Ebay.

New design Surger cans with "ready to pour" indicator

As you can see from the attached picture the Surger cans have had a bit of a revamp to coincide with them going on sale to the general public via a number of online sites, including Amazon.co.uk

The new design brings the Surger cans into line with the new "widget" can design which was introduced late in 2009.

The new can also has a colour changing band on the can indicating that the can is at the optimum temperature for pouring. Guinness GB told me earlier, "a band around 'step 1' of the serve instructions on the back turns light blue."

GUINNESS SURGER NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER ONLINE IN THE UK

Good news direct from Guinness GB!!!

You can now grab yourselves a 24 case of Guinness Surger and get a free home Surger unit from Amazon.co.uk

It took them a while to get their act together, but you know what they say......."Good Things Come To Those Who Wait!"

Sláinte!

Gwyneth Paltrow has a Surger Unit!

It seems that Gwyneth Paltrow has just had a Guinness Surger Unit shipped to her home in the USA.

Click here for link to the newspaper article

Good news for UK Surger fans?

It looks like Guinness GB are now supplying the "home" Surger units to bars and restaurants. The new "trade" packaging can be spotted on Ebay's UK site.

Guinness GB have also indicated to me that "something" is in the pipeline for UK consumers. Obviously, I'm hoping that this means that they are going to re-introduce the units and cans to retail outlets. Only time will tell.

Keep checking out this blog for the most up-to-date info.


Sláinte!

Surger withdrawn in the USA???

An anonymous poster on this very blog has stated that Surger was withdrawn from the USA market as of the end of October.

I haven't read any further information regarding this, but will update the blog as and when I have further information.

Another blow for Surger fans :(

UK Suppliers of Surger cans UPDATE

Here it is people, the list of UK suppliers that you have all been waiting on.

Please note that only some of these suppliers are willing to deal with the general public. I have detailed below those who will deal with non-trade customers.

For those companies that don't deal with non-trade customers, you may be able to get a store, bar or restaurant to order them on your behalf.

www.smallbeerwholesale.co.uk - Based in Lincoln, England. Will accept orders from non-trade customers. Will deliver within 15 miles of Lincoln otherwise you can go to the outlet and pick up.

alesdistribution.com - Based in Newport, Wales. Will accept orders from non-trade customers.

www.libradrinks.co.uk - Based in Nottingham, England. Will accept orders from non-trade customers. Will not deliver, pick up from depot only. Contact purchasing@libradrinks.co.uk for price and availability.

www.booker.co.uk - Nationwide cash & carry wholesaler. Have to open a business account to deal with this company.

www.wallacesexpress.com - Various depots throughout Scotland. Will only deal with trade customers, although I believe their Kintore depot in the north of Scotland operates off-license sales.

www.waverleytbs.co.uk - Nationwide on-trade wholesaler. Will not deal with non-trade customers.

www.jvtrading.co.uk - Based in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. On-trade wholesaler. No information as yet as to whether or not they will deal with private customers.

European supplies

For all the people in Europe trying to get their hands on the elusive Surger cans, I have some great news for you!

Raimund at Monarchy Catering can now supply the 330ml cans of Surger Europe wide. Raimund also sells the bar-top Surger units.


Contact Raimund at office@monarchycatering.com for pricing and shipping info.

For UK stockists and suppliers, see my other post below.

Diageo appoints marketing chief for Britain

Diageo has appointed Philip Gladman as marketing director for its British business.

He will be responsible for marketing brands, including Guinness, Smirnoff and Baileys, as well as for category marketing and the company’s marketing agenda in regard to responsible drinking.

More importantly, he previously held the position of brand director, Gladman led the European innovation team for the drinks maker and introduced brands such as Baileys Flavours and Guinness Surger.

Hopefully, Mr Gladman might have another go at marketing the Surger to the home market!

I'd certainly be "Glad Man" if he did!

UK Suppliers of Guinness Surger cans

Here it is people, the list of UK suppliers that you have all been waiting on.

Please note that only some of these suppliers are willing to deal with the general public. I have detailed below those who will deal with non-trade customers.

For those companies that don't deal with non-trade customers, you may be able to get a store, bar or restaurant to order them on your behalf.

www.smallbeerwholesale.co.uk - Based in Lincoln, England. Will accept orders from non-trade customers. Will deliver within 15 miles of Lincoln otherwise you can go to the outlet and pick up.

alesdistribution.com - Based in Newport, Wales. Will accept orders from non-trade customers.

www.libradrinks.co.uk - Based in Nottingham, England. Will accept orders from non-trade customers. Will not deliver, pick up from depot only. Contact purchasing@libradrinks.co.uk for price and availability.

www.booker.co.uk - Nationwide cash & carry wholesaler. Have to open a business account to deal with this company.

www.wallacesexpress.com - Various depots throughout Scotland. Will only deal with trade customers, although I believe their Kintore depot in the north of Scotland operates off-license sales.

www.waverleytbs.co.uk - Nationwide on-trade wholesaler. Will not deal with non-trade customers.

Name your worldwide suppliers

I'd like anyone who visits this blog, that has access to Guinness Surger cans or bottles, to send me an email giving the contact details of their suppliers.

This will enable me to build up a database of worldwide suppliers, which I can then list on this very Blog.

Please send your supplier details to surger@sky.com

Salute!

Australian Surger Withdrawn!

Another blow to all you Surger fans out there in Australia!

Just after reporting how well the Surger seems to be doing in Hong Kong, I've just had information from a contact that Diageo Australia have taken the decision to discontinue the Surger product over there due to a lack of demand.

It was also reported that a number of hotel chains were selling "heaps" of the stuff, but Diageo being the way they are, don't like to keep their "Surger hungry" fans supplied with the product that they want!

Let's hope that Diageo get the product online soon and make it available to all Surger drinkers around the world.

G'day!

"Home" Surger Units to be installed in Japanese bars

News on the Net states:

"Japan's Kirin Brewery Co. is working with British liquor producer Diageo Plc to expand sales of Guinness black beer to smaller restaurants by installing newly developed compact beer "surgers."

Beer surgers use ultrasonic waves to put a foam head on beer poured from commercial-size cans. The versions predominantly used until now have been around 50cm tall, making it difficult to install them in small local pubs and bars. The new surgers are just 13cm wide and 5cm tall, allowing them to be placed on counters or in kitchens without taking up much space.

Before year's end, Kirin plans to increase the number of stores with beer surgers by 30 per cent to 20,000."

Obviously the "new" Surgers mentioned above are just the home version of the unit which was withdrawn in the UK. Either that or something almost identical. Surely if these units are still being produced it would be easy to for Diageo to sell them online.

Guinness Surger Supplies!!

Great news :)

I can now get regular supplies of Guinness Surger 520ml cans in cases of 24 in the UK.

Contact me for more info at surger@sky.com

Arthur's Day

With the 250th Anniversary celebrations coming up, Guinness are concentrating on the Arthur's Day celebrations commencing on September 24th, so everything else seems to be on the back burner at the moment.

There are still plans for Surger to be made available and I will update you when I have more news of this.

In the meantime, have a great Arthur's Day!!!

Sláinte!

Some exciting news (possibly)

I've just received information that Guinness in the UK may be about to start selling Guinness cans and bottles via their website, www.guinness.com

I have still to receive confirmation as to whether or not this will include Guinness Surger cans. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it does!

I'll keep you updated as and when new information becomes available.

Would you like to see Guinness Surger cans for sale on www.guinness.com? Please use the poll at the top of this page to cast your vote.

Cheers!

Why is Guinness Surger no longer available in UK shops?

Good question!

Diageo UK decided to withdraw the home Surger Unit after a 2 year trial. The reason they gave to the many customers who had forked out £16.99 for the unit was that the uptake wasn't as they had hoped for.

Tesco, who were the retail partner in this trial, were obviously not happy at having stock in their warehouses and shelves which wasn't selling either.

So why did it not sell as well as had been hoped for? Well one reason could be the marketing or more likely the lack of marketing. Do you remember all those adverts on TV for the "NEW GUINNESS SURGER UNIT"? or the full page ads in the national papers stating "GUINNESS DRAUGHT SURGER - BRING A TASTE OF DUBLIN HOME"?

No?!........Why not?

The reason you don't remember seeing any of this, is that it never happened! The only marketing I was ever aware of was on the Guinness.com website. Now I know that in this day and age most people have some sort of access to the internet, but for this to be the only outlet for advertising what is, in my opinion, the best take home version of Guinness ever to be sold, shows a lack of enthusiasim on Diageo's part.

Now that the bar-top Surger Unit seems to be taking off pretty well across the world, I think it's about time that Diageo UK gave the home unit another try or at the very least make Guinness Surger cans readily available to the general public. The cans are being produced in the UK, so why not sell them to people who actually want to buy them?

So far it's been a rocky year for Diageo. As the global recession deepens and consumer confidence remains low, they have been cutting costs and shedding jobs to protect their profits. In January, they said they may change or abandon $1.1 billion plans to reform production in Ireland and open a new state-of-the-art brewery.

If they need to increase sales then why not sell Surger cans to the public?


It's not all about sales though is it? It's about quality too. Two quotes I found on the internet back up this statement.

The first is from Master Brewmaster Fergal Murray - "Quality is the most important element of Guinness growth around the world. We have to have a visual experience, then a quality experience. And when you come to do an innovative product, you can't let the quality down."

Guinness Group marketing manager Matt Brand,referring to the Surger Unit, also said “(Customers) will now be able to order a draught Guinness in a much wider range of bars and trust that the quality, taste and presentation is exactly the same as it would be in Dublin"

I also just came across the following statement on the USA Guinness site - "In our relentless pursuit for the perfect pint of GUINNESS® Draught no matter where you are, we present the GUINNESS® Draught Surger® device."
Notice they say "NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE"....well doesn't this included at home too?

If the guys at Guinness are truely serious about what they say with regards to the quality and presentation of their products, then why are people who want to drink Guinness at home being forced into buying an inferior product.......the Guinness Draught Widget can? Sure, the Widget can has done a good job for the past 21 years in giving us an imperfect version of the smooth and creamy Draught Guinness that we're used to getting at the pub, but times change, technology moves on and processes are refined. Guinness has achieved this refinement in the Surger Unit and Surger cans. So come on Guinness, give us what we want.....Surger cans in shops....NOW!

If you too want Guinness Surger to be made available in shops or even online, then please become a follower on this Blog page or leave a comment using the comments link below. The more followers who join this Blog, the better chance we will have of reaching our goal.

Please subscribe to this Blog to receive updates and new Blog entries.

Sláinte!

1st Blog

The idea of this blog is to try and raise awareness of the Guinness Surger unit, in the hope that Diageo UK will see that there is still consumer interest in the unit.

The ultimate goal is to have Guinness Surger cans reintroduced to the UK retail market making them readily available to the general public.

Please help me achieve this goal by becoming a follower. The more followers I have signed up the better chance we have of getting the Surger cans reintroduced.