'3 Coins'most popular on SriLankan airlines

FIVE years since it took to the skies with SriLankan, 3 Coins beer has become a standard-bearing local brand among the multinational clientele of the national carrier.

Sri Lanka's only 100 per cent natural, all malt beer, 3 Coins has become a popular choice of passengers on all classes, boosting on-board consumption by nearly 80 per cent since the brand was introduced.

"Many passengers now ask for 3 Coins lager," said Rushmore Ferdinands, Manager In-flight Services Delivery at SriLankan.

"Fifty per cent of the beer we now carry on board is 3 Coins." Passengers on the national carrier will swig some 323,000 cans of 3 Coins lager this year, well over double the volume consumed in 2002, and nearly 50 per cent more than last year.

Beer is the most popular of the alcoholic beverages served on board, and the cabin crew takes pride in the growing popularity of 3 Coins, the only local beer brand on board, Mr. Ferdinands added.

Three Coins' Chief Operating Officer Anton Rock Fernando said: " Three Coins introduced long over due canning technology to this country and remains to date the only producer of cans here.

In a sense, 3 Coins has had the effect of uplifting, in a small way, Sri Lanka's image as a modern destination."

Three Coins enjoys the distinction of introducing to the local market, besides canning and world class packaging, specialty beers such as "Riva," the only bottle re-fermented white beer brewed in South Asia and "Irish Dark," a red beer of Anglo-Irish origin, and the concept of custom brewing for special events.