GNR just gave 3rd show in Istanbul. Actually it was a festival called Tuborg Gold Festival which we wrote about it months ago. Surprisingly GnR was on stage on time and played almost 3 hours without break, which was good performance for their ages. Organization was awesome, venue was great if you compare other open air festivals in the past. We dont know if they will come again or not. But crowd was happy with the concert. Everyone enjoyed with atmosphere. I took some photos which you would have some ideas about yesterday night.
Beer and Turkey. Honestly Turkey is not kind of beerland. But I will try to give informations about beer in
Turkey.
There are 2 major brands. Efes Pilsen and Tuborg. Efes is local and biggest beer brand in Turkey. which also have facilities in Russia, Serbia, Kazakhstan and Moldova. You may see named "Efes Pilsener" in supermarkets.
Turk Tuborg company has been running in Turkey since 1960s as a competitor of Efes. As you know Tuborg is from Denmark. And you can find it in hundreds of countries under Tuborg and Carlsberg names.
Lets start to details with Efes Pilsen. Efes Pilsen is founded at 1969. Name is coming from ancient Greek city Ephesus. And Efes is leading beer market in Turkey.
Efes Beverage Group has so many brands under its root. For example they are marketing and distributing Miller, Foster's and Beck's as international brands. Lemon-Agave beer named Mariachi and Mariachi-black. Economic beer brand Marmara Gold. Wheat beer brand Gusta. %100 Malt beer Bomonti.
Strong beers called Efes Extra (%8 alc.) cheaper strong beer brand is Red Marmara Gold. Dark beers called Efes Dark and Gusta Dark in 33 cl bottles. Efes Light as a light product and non-alcoholic beers are Efes Alcohol Free and Ritmix Fruit drinks.
Efes is also most popular in bars and pubs as draft beer. You will see their logo everywhere when you visit Turkey. If you want to try draft beer at home you can find it in bottles and 5 liters can draft in supermarkets.
Efes is popular with bottle type. People call it "fat bottle".
Most of tourists satisfy taste of Efes beside German and Czechs :) Efes Pilsen is also sponsor of basketball team Anadolu Efes (named Efes Pilsen until 2011.) Main sponsor of "Efes One Love Festival" and sponsor of so many other summer festivals.
Tuborg is trying to survive against %80 beer market share-Efes Pilsen. Tuborg Gold is main brand of Turk Tuborg Company. Turk Tuborg is distributing Danish Carlsberg, Mexican Corona and planing Guinness in close future. Beside these brands they are marketing Venüs, Troy which are weak in beer-market. Other brand Swedish Skol in 1 and 1,5 litres bottles.
Tuborg has 3 different types. Tuborg Gold, Tuborg Draft Beer and Red Tuborg. There was green bottle Tuborg in the past which was my favorite.
Tuborg also supports summer festivals rock festivals and concerts in bars. Which we wrote one rock festival Tuborg Goldfest on July in our blog.
Where you can buy beer in Turkey? There's special shops which sells alcohols called "Tekel". It means monopoly. Alcohol market was a monopoly in the past and biggest beer brand was Tekel birası. Government was controling all market. Even cigarettes. So these shop names stayed as Tekel. And most of them are open late midnight. Beside Tekel shops, these supermarkets sell beers; Migros, DiaSA, CarrefourSA etc. You can also find imported international brands not unlike Budweiser, Amstel, Heineken, Leffe etc. But prices are not less than 5 lira. which is around 2,20€.
What about prices? Normal beers are 50 cl (Tuborg Gold and Efes fat bottle) and prices are 3,50 Lira at supermarkets.(1,5 €) Miller, Corona, Mariachi, Beck's in 33 cl bottles and prices are between 4 and 5 lira.
Marmara Gold and Venus are cheaper price. 1litre of Marmara Gold is not more than 5 lira and has really good taste. I can recommend it as an economical option.
And if you ask about pubs. In Taksim district 50 cl draft beer is around 7 lira (3 €). But its also possible to be charged 10 lira or 15. It depends what kind of place you are going.
As you can see beer prices are pretty expensive if you compare with europe. If you compare with Poland. Turkey is last place to buy beer.
Here are some beer ads. And Government doesnt allow to view beer advertisements on TV. You can watch only on internet and cinemas before movie.
Istanbul always have so many open air festivals on summer. But this one is little heavy.
Rock'n roll Masters Guns n' Roses is coming 3rd time to Istanbul. Fans cant wait to see them again.
You know Tuborg is second biggest beer brand after Efes in Turkey. And its kinda anniversary of Tuborg Gold. There will be +18 age limit according to new laws in Turkey. So be sure you have no age-limit problem before buying ticket.
Days of the festival is different than usual. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday... Im really curious about line-up. Because most of people are worlking on weekdays.
Name of the organization company is Purple Concerts. They made famous metal festival series called Sonisphere 3 times in Istanbul. But I guess last year was last. ONE DAY TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW!!
Normal ticket (all day pass) is 150 liras, Front of stage is 375 liras, VIP area is 530 liras. And of course VIP guests have acces to get Front of stage area. You can buy your ticket from leading ticket company of Turkey, www.biletix.com
Here are list of bands. Guns N' Roses Evanescence Şebnem Ferah Within Temptation Apocalyptica In Flames Pentagram Lacuna Coil Godsmack Ugly Kid Joe Skindred Heaven Shall Burn Redd Sweet Savage Ayse Saran Pleneur Erdem Yener Gurcan Ersoy
