The Legend of the 'Happy Horse'

Before, our guitarist, Paolo, told me of an urban legend regarding a staple in the local band scene: the humble beer. In a particular brand, Red Horse, which has a head of a proud stallion as a logo, there seems to be an altenate logo referred to as the 'happy horse'. This alternate logo is a more comical image of the stallion smiling. It is said to be a stronger brew than the normal one and I heard that there is only one bottle in a batch of hundreds.

At an after gig party last Saturday, we were discussing that urban legend in Big Sky Mind at Quezon City when, to our surprise, we were served with the legendary 'happy horse'. I wasn't able to judge if it were a stronger mix since it was given to another person in our party. But we were startled at seeing that the legend was true. 

But seeing the bottle, I can't help but doubt the accuracy of the 'stronger brew' myth. It looked like an older bottle than a devious prank at the patrons, it kinda reminded me of those old cola bottles still in circulation. 

I searched the web and with a post at Yahoo! Answers, my suspicions were vindicated. As it turns out, the 'Happy Horse' are just the old bottles still circulated since bottles are washed and reused for 20 years before they are retired. Its contents are still from the same tap the ordinary Red Horse comes from.

So the next time you see a horse smiling back at you as you drink beer, relax...its the same thing...or you just had too much to drink...