Heineken USA Reinforces Its Commitment to Responsibility During Tampa's Festival Caliente

    WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Heineken USA, the official
 beer sponsor of the City of Tampa's Festival Caliente, a cultural extravaganza
 celebrating the vibrancy of Hispanic America, will again implement several
 important responsible consumption initiatives during this year's event, slated
 for Sunday, November 20, at Al Lopez Park, in an effort to create a safe and
 responsible drinking environment.
     To help ensure that only individuals of legal age can purchase alcohol
 beverages at the Festival, Heineken will be using the services of
 Intelli-Check(R), the acknowledged leader in document and identification
 verification, to authenticate the validity of driver's licenses and
 identification cards.  Event-goers wishing to drink beer at the Festival will
 all have their identification checked through Intelli-Check's(R) system.  This
 technology will allow ID checkers to verify each ID either through a swipe
 check, similar to how one swipes a credit card at a store, or a plunge check,
 similar to how one uses an ATM card.  Once Intelli-Check(R) verifies the
 individual is of legal age, the event-goer will be given a wristband,
 signifying that vendors may sell beer to that individual.
     Heineken is also encouraging event-goers to take advantage of its unique
 responsible consumption program called SAFE CALL(TM).  The program is designed
 to provide consumers who may have had too much to drink, a toll-free and
 easy-to-remember phone number to prevent them from driving while intoxicated.
 As part of this effort, Heineken has partnered with 1-800-TAXICAB(TM), North
 America's largest telephone-based taxi referral service.  Consumers need only
 ring this toll-free phone number from a local phone 24 hours a day to call for
 a taxi to safely take them home.   Their call is automatically patched through
 to a taxi company in their local area, which will then dispatch a cab to their
 location.
     "Heineken USA is a proud sponsor of Festival Caliente and its goal of
 celebrating the richness of Latino culture in the United States," said Dan
 Tearno, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Heineken USA.  "We want everyone
 to have a great time at the Festival and by implementing SAFE CALL(TM) and
 utilizing the Intelli-Check(R) machines, we will help ensure that Heineken
 products are consumed responsibly by event-goers."
 
     ABOUT HEINEKEN USA
     Heineken USA Inc., the nation's largest beer importer, is a subsidiary of
 Heineken N.V. (Netherlands), which is the world's third-largest brewer.
 Brands imported into the U.S. include: Heineken Lager, the world's most
 international beer brand, Amstel Light, the largest-selling imported light
 beer brand, and Buckler non-alcoholic brew. Please visit
 http://www.EnjoyHeinekenResponsibly.com.
 
     ABOUT 1-800-TAXICAB
     Los Angeles-based 1-800-TAXICAB(TM) is North America's taxicab network.
 Passengers across North America can call the toll-free and easy-to-remember
 numbers 1-800-TAXICAB to be immediately connected to a local taxi dispatcher.
 
     ABOUT INTELLI-CHECK
     Intelli-Check(R), Inc., the acknowledged leader in document verification
 has developed a patented technology to verify the validity of all currently
 encoded state and provincial driver licenses, state issued ID cards and
 military IDs including those that comply with AAMVA/ANSI/International
 Organization of Standardization standards. The technology is fully capable of
 detecting fake, altered and tampered IDs, which can be used to prevent fines
 and penalties to merchants who unknowingly sell age-restricted products such
 as alcohol and tobacco to underage purchasers.
 
 

SOURCE  Heineken USA Inc.