Cancel your plans for this weekend: Busch is going to give someone a lifetime supply of beer for wandering around the forest.
In a recent press release, the brand announced that they’re partnering with the National Forest Foundation to help conserve 200 million acres of National Forest land. The effort is focused around a one-day-only pop-up bar that Busch is building in a secret location on July 20th.
“We’re popping up where Busch tastes best,” The Busch Guy said in their new ad. “In the great outdoors. In the middle of the forest. Miles from the closest city.”
The bar will be open from 10 am to 5 pm, and everyone who shows up will get free beer and merchandise. Additionally, 100 trees will be planted by the NFF for every person that completes the search.
Oh, and a lifetime supply of Busch Light will be awarded to one lucky hiker.
To help thirsty backpackers find the bar, Busch will be rolling out videos over the next couple of days with not-so-subtle clues. For their first hint, The Busch Guy revealed, “Kansas to the left of me, Illinois to the right, here I am stuck in ________ with you. Can you guess what state I’m in?”
In case those Stealers Wheel lyrics didn’t make it obvious enough, the answer is Missouri. Although there are 154 National Forests, only one is in the Show Me State: Mark Twain National Forest. Mark Twain is located about an hour south of St. Louis, consisting of 1.5 million acres of wilderness. The placement of the pop-up bar is hardly a surprise; Anheuser-Busch is brewed in St. Louis and the Cardinals play their home games at Busch Stadium.
If you can’t make it to Missouri for the wild Busch hunt, consider signing the pledge on their website. By vowing to “protect the great outdoors,” Busch will donate $1 to the NFF for every signature they get (up to $100,000).
Marketing to outdoorspeople isn’t new for Busch. Every fall they paint their cases in orange camo, and in recent summers they’ve covered their cans with different species of fish. In anticipation of the most recent sweepstakes, Busch created outdoors activated cans that change colors in sunlight.
“In addition to the forests’ ecological importance, these lands provide opportunities for all Americans to experience and enjoy America’s rugged outdoor landscape,” they proclaimed on their website.
Although I’m normally bummed out to see a beer can in the woods, this is one time where I wouldn’t mind finding a few. Kudos to Busch for recognizing the value of America’s public lands and bringing beer to the conservation table.
