Ciaran Nolan
The Book of Kells is one of the oldest Irish manuscripts and attracts almost 27 times more visitors yearly than the entire student population in Trinity, but in an unusual move College has decided to apply to the EU Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market for copyright of the name for use on a number of memorabilia including unusually beer, ale, lager, spirits and even soap!
As we all know college is usually swamped with tourists looking to see this ancient manuscript and more than likely everyone has been asked by tourists to give them direction to the Book Of Kells, which a lot of us have never even seen ourselves. They flock in their droves and after the excitement of seeing the book and the fantastic long room, these tourists do not hesitate on spending in the gift shop. After asking two American tourists approaching me and asking me for direction, I decided to accompany them and of course let them in for free. Asking them about their experience afterwards, “We thought the book was excellent, the long room is simply fantastic!”, when asked about the possibility of buying a Book Of Kells beer they wanted to know where they could buy it, “A Book of Kells beer, that would be excellent, it would be a lovely gift to take back to our family at home”. It is estimated that college makes over €4 million yearly on collections from the Book Of Kells gallery.
Not only have they applied for the Book of Kells name to be copyrighted for alcohol it is also already copyrighted for a number of other unusual things including containers for contact lenses, fire extinguishers and life saving machinery. Of course the logo and name is em-blazed on numerous gift shop items in Trinity, which the tourists love to get to symbolize their visit to the Emerald Isles.
However, it is hard to imagine students drinking “The Book of Kells beer” in the Pav instead of Bavaria and the like. Students were also somewhat positive about the beer, one said: “I suppose it is a good idea and a great spin for the tourists, who are nearly sure to buy it. If it was cheap I would probably buy it” said one Pav attendee. Others said: “I suppose it is a bit of an Irish scam, if they just plastered it on some random beer, but if it was brewed like the Oscar Wildcat in The Porterhouse, I would probably give it a try, at least we would have something up on the other colleges, we would have our own beer!”
Don’t expect to see this special brew for sale in Buttery or the Pav, but you never know, it could be the next big Trinity drink in a couple of years time, on that note college has not announced whether or not it will even be selling the “Book of Kells” branded alcohol any time soon.
