Drinking beers and household chores never had much in common, but now, you can “set the table” while knocking back a half-goblet of lager. In the latest beer challenge to sweep the internet, people are guzzling Birra Moretti in an attempt to align the liquid’s surface with the mustachioed man on the beer’s label. The goal: make it look like his arm is resting on a table of beer.
This trend offers a new spin on Guinness’ megawatt “splitting the G” phenomenon, roughly two years after the now-iconic gulping-guessing game swarmed pubs and social media platforms. The challenge likely emerged as a bar game, but it appears to have become a worldwide fad after popular TikTok and Instagram accounts posted carousels and videos of successful table-sets and garnered tens of thousands of views and likes.
@the.white.horse.southill Drink responsibly kings and queens ✌🏻 #fyp #moretti #beer #hospitality #pub ♬ original sound – Ibiza Records
Just as some devotees met “splitting the G” with disdain, certain beer purists are gawking at the challenge. “Can’t you just drink your beer like a normal person?,” one Instagram user commented on LADBible’s post, the first to broadcast the challenge.
While you can find a solid pint of Guinness in a branded glass to partake in “splitting the G” at just about any pub, hunting down Birra Moretti in the signature goblet isn’t as easy. But with “setting the table” on the rise, the brand is only poised to become more popular.
The Heineken-owned brand has already seen an uptick in sales in the past year, surpassing $1.4 billion in on-premise sales following a recent launch of a sea salt-spiked lager, according to the Drinks Business.
Luigi Moretti founded Birra Moretti in Udine, Italy, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in 1859 and remained a regional specialty for decades. Heineken picked it up in 1996 and, five years later, began exporting it to international markets. Since the 1940s, Baffo, the stein-drinking man on the label whose table drinkers attempt to set, has been printed on every Birra Moretti bottle, becoming one of the most iconic faces in Italian beer. And with this new trend, Baffo is about to get a lot more popular.
