May 1, 2008
Is Faux Red Bull Red Bullshit?
Red Bull has won a $680,000 lawsuit against Wet, a Loop bar that served its clubby patrons a different energy sauce when they ordered Red Bull. A manager at the company was at Wet and asked for a vodka Red Bull. She was served a vodka...Other Thing. From the Trib:
[Red Bull employee Angela] Latino asked the bartender if it was made with Red Bull from a can. The bartender replied that it was made with "something like Red Bull from the gun," according to a filing in the U.S. District Court in Chicago.Over the next several years about a dozen Red Bull "scouts" and private investigators visited the nightclub and also were served a substitute energy drink.
One bartender told an undercover Red Bull investigator that Red Bull was something of a generic term for energy drink: "It's like if you ask me for Kleenex and I give you a tissue."
The investigator said the substitute didn't taste like Red Bull, to which the bartender replied, "That's because it is actually made with Roaring Lion, which is a little different."
Red Bull says they want to protect their brand and not have their product misrepresented. Which is hilarious, because Red Bull tastes like misery. [Trib]
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If I order a Jack and Coke and you give me a Wild Turkey and Seven, I'm giving you back a punch in the nose. Same thing.
It be more like you getting real Jack but Aldi cola.
If you find red bullshit, your cow has some problems.
yes. whether or not anyone likes red bull isn't the issue. it's asking for bacardi and getting ronrico. and worse, people telling you straight to your face there's no difference.
and for someone to say that "red bull" is a generic term for an energy drink? were they drunk when they said that? right. that's why some of my friends only drink monster or rockstar or whatthefuckever. cause it's just all "red bull." ??
i can't do that stuff anymore. it makes me feel like i'm completely tweaked.
In the south, it's all just Coke...
Trademark owners go to great lengths sometimes to keep their marks off of lists like this one: Wikipedia: List of generic and genericized trademarks
Red Bull is delicious. But I love the taste of misery.
I would like to see a survey to see if anyone ordering this bastard "cocktail" -- besides Red Bull executives -- actually gives a shit.
Fed up's analogy is spot on -- the Red Bull being the mixer, I wouldn't expect most bartenders to tell you if they are using something similar. How often do you think someone orders a 7 and 7 and the bartender says, "Gee, actually, we use Sprite. Is that OK?"
I'm more disturbed by the fact that enough people are ordering this abomination that some bars actually put "Red Bull" in the gun...
I think the key point here is that whether you think Red Bull tastes like cough syrup or like a little bit of heaven, people will pay a premium for it. And if you're paying a premium, you deserve to get what you're paying for. Coke and Pepsi cost the same amount of money, so getting one substituted for the other (ditto Sprite/7UP) isn't as big of a deal.
I drink this all the time, only with Diet Red Bull and also with Orange Juice and it IS a cost issue. Red Bull/Vodkas are supey expensive!
I want what I am paying for...
Hey!
Negativesmart, how are you?
+1 to pantagrapher.
i definitely want what i'm paying for, i definitely can tell the difference between that 'gun' red bull and the real thing, AND i *do* get restaurants asking me nearly ALL the time if i care if it's coke or pepsi, because .. i DO care, and a lot of people do. i'll have an orange soda rather than a pepsi*.
*which is strange, because i grew up in a pepsi house, and i never really liked cola until i recently started drinking diet coke. i think that stuff is loaded with an addictive additive. i think i should stop drinking it.
the thing is, Red Bull is much much much more expensive to carry, and not all vendors who supply restaurants carry it.
This is one reason why restaurants and bars carry Monster, Rockstar, etc instead. Why go thru the trouble of changing vendors and spending more money? Its all the same, in the long run- the basic concept of a Vodka-Red Bull. They want a vodka-energy drink that tastes like crap, because they want to be drunk and caffeinated. At my restaurant, when someone orders a bullshit drink like that, I do always tell them we have Rockstar Energy drink, and proceed to ask them if they want regular or sugar free. I've never had someone turn down the drink because it wasnt from a blue and silver can. On their reciept, it also says "rockstar". the problem should only be if the estabishment is promoting they serve red bull, and are charging for RED BULL. if the receipt says 'redbull' and you have been served something else, thats a problem.
And for the most part, unless you're at a movie theatre where coke basically sponsors the establishment, the Jack and Coke you're ordering is Jack and RC.
Wait until Coke starts cracking down on the best restaurants in the city because they branded a generic name for pop.
Ooooo, RC Cola. Love that stuff. The best thing about it is, when you're done with the drink, you can use the container for tobacco juice spit.