Beer, meat, laughter, bubble soccer and other fun activities marked the first Mutzig Lite Barbecue event, held at the Kigali Golf Club, on Saturday.

Mutzig Lite Barbecue is a new social media-based campaign by Mutzig Lite, the newest beer brand from local brewer Bralirwa. The beer was launched last year at the annual Mutzig Beer Fest.

Members of the public record short videos explaining what makes a great barbecue party and post it on the Mutzig Lite Facebook page.

Winners then get a chance to be hosted to a live barbecue party in the company of up to ten friends.

Redempa Bisangwa, a marketing strategist based in Kigali was among two winners for the first barbecue. The party lived to its billing even though the second winner did not turn up.

Bisangwa arrived shortly before 3p.m, in the company of a few friends. With a large table reserved for them, the group settled down to drinks and animated chit-chat as more guests trickled in. MC Tino and the resident DJ provided entertainment to the party-goers.

Bisangwa kept ushering in more friends, and by the time it was 4p.m, there were slightly over twenty guests on her table.

When she couldn’t take in any more friends, attention now turned to the sizzling meat at the barbecue corner.

"We are here to eat, drink and party,” Bisangwa declared as she urged her friends to join her at the barbecue.

After the sumptuous meal, the group was treated to a game of bubble soccer, which involves playing the game while wrapped in huge air bags.

"The day has been awesome. It started on a very good note with lots of my friends calling me to ask what time they should be present and what to expect. I told them ‘honestly it’s also a surprise to me, so come let’s be surprised together’ an excited Bisangwa said after the event.

"There was a social media campaign and Mutzig Lite wanted anybody to post a video telling them what makes a barbecue fun. I recorded so many videos and in all of them I was alone so I decided to record one video with a friend in it then we would select the best. Everyone chose the one where I was with a friend called George,” she added.

"I posted it and got very good feedback with so many views and people writing to me and asking me to invite them in case I won but I couldn’t invite everybody because I have so many friends. Initially it was supposed to be ten people but I wrote to them that the more people the merrier. That’s why we were more than twenty. I was happy when the brand manager wrote to me, saying my wish had been granted,” said Bisangwa.

In the video, she said one needs a Mutzig Lite, good company, good weather and lots of meat for a great barbecue and, indeed, none of these was in short supply.

Mark Nkera, the brand manager for Mutzig Lite said that the Mutzig Lite Barbecue was an ongoing campaign. "We will see if we can have another one in two weeks’ time. The venue is likely to change so that we can get as many people to know that Mutzig Lite is doing this.”

Asked why the winner turned up with more friends than the stipulated ten he explained: "With every promotion there are terms and conditions but we like to think of ourselves as a flexible brand. We aim to please, so for us a request like that wasn’t out of this world. We just adjusted a few numbers and made it work.”

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