When Quentin Tarantino, maverick gore-hound of the indie scene, proclaimed to the world at large that Cains Finest beer was “totally awesome”, co-founder Sudarghara Dusanj thought he’d died and gone to heaven.

Let’s set the scene, shall we? Tarantino’s bezzie mate, Samuel L. Jackson, spends some time in Liverpool shooting 51st State a couple of years back. During his time with the Scousers, he becomes a massive fan of Cains lager.

He goes home to the city of angels and tells Tarantino, a lager fan too, would you believe it, that he’s discovered the holy grail of beers. And from that moment on, it’s a True Romance.

“We read about it in The Sun!” says Sudarghara Dusanj, one of two brothers behind the brewery. “I couldn’t believe it! I thought, ‘I’ve got to get some beer to him!’” So, in 2007, when the blood-soaked auteur arrives in Liverpool to attend the premier of his Grindhouse flick, Death Proof, Dusanj sends a case of Finest to the press conference.

Cains is an AIM-listed brewery with a turnover of £44m, by no means puny. But this Liverpool based firm competes against the big boys – Kronenburg, Stella and Carling.

It needs all the publicity it can get. “He stood on stage and held up a beer saying, ‘This Finest lager is just awesome’,” laughs Dusanj. “We got a picture of him too! Maybe we’ll ask him to do an ad for us.”

When it comes down to clever PR, the Dusanj bros are the dogs, the Reservoir Dogs. Cains Brewery became Liverpool’s official beer partner when the city won the Capital of Culture award in 2003.

The firm beat Heineken, Carlsburg and John Smiths. How? “Liverpool being Liverpool, they didn’t care that these guys had multi-million pound marketing budgets,” laughed Dusanj. “We wanted it, and Liverpool wanted us.”

The lads convinced Peter Blake, the artist behind The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album to design a limited edition Finest label to promote the link-up. “The brief was “Best of British”,” says Dusanj. “So he came back and put a Union Jack on it! It’s very Carnaby Street, 1960’s mini, signed off by Peter Blake. We’re seriously proud of it.”

Dusanj lets slip another little nugget too. Heard of Super Lamb Banana? It’s that freakish sculpture of the half lamb, half banana, in Liverpool (an artistic reference to the perils of GM food or something).

This year, there’s going to be a whole flock of these beasts appearing around the city. “We’ve got two,” says Dusanj. “Painted with Peter Blake’s Union Jack. And we’re going to make them into a bar!”

A bar that’s open From Dusk till Dawn, perchance? Arf.

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By Carmen Snipes  on   Jul 08,2008

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Keywords

celebrity endorsements    lager    drinks    media    publicity   

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