Cherry Pie Picache doesn’t blink when you bring up the immortal line “kapag may alak, may balak.”
She regards it as true.
“Of course,” she fires back. “Hindi naman na tayo mga bata. We all know that. Alcohol makes you bolder, less inhibited, so I think that’s where the saying started and yeah, totoo naman.”
But she’s got a personal house rule. “I never get wasted,” she says. “Nakakita na kasi ako years back nang isang artista na kinailangan buhatin sa sobrang kalasingan at sabi ko, I won’t be like that ever, so hindi ako talagang tumutodo.”
The topic came up during a recent gathering for the film “The Last Beergin.”
Opening nationwide October 1, this latest round from Cineko Productions and Obra Cinema Productions— the same company behind “Family Matters” and “Family of Two,” is directed by Nuel Naval and written by Mel Mendoza-del Rosario.
It follows five strangers who, over a few shared drinks, start pouring something stronger: their secrets, their heartbreak, their need to be heard.
The film asks the ultimate chaser question: “Sa shot ng buhay, ilan ang kaya mong itagay?”
It answers the same with a mix of laughs, heartache, and the kind of brutally funny honesty only Filipinos can pull off.
Cherry Pie’s co-star in the film, Zaijian Jaranilla, also believes in the above adage. But he plays diplomat to Cherry Pie’s straight shot.
“May balak? As in…? Well, it depends really. Pwedeng may balak pero baka balak lang makipag-usap, makipagtawanan, makabuo ng friendship… so, ako, in that sense, yeah, I agree. Kapag may alak may balak.”
He quickly adds with a grin: “Kaya nga importante na kilala mo ang kainuman mo and drink in moderation.”
The two, as with co-stars, JC Santos, Xyriel Manabat agree.
So, how do they know if they’re already up to their limit?
Xyriel laughs, “Madaldal na ako. Kapag ganun na, tigil na ako.”
JC admits, “I’m a happy drunk. Makwento ako. Tawa lang ako ng tawa.”
Then he drops a first-time confession: “I hadn’t tried Beergin until I made this film. Actually, we did try it as immersion of sorts—para lang alam namin kung saan at paano nabuo yung idea for the film and use it in our portrayal.”
It didn’t last.
“Mahirap i-memorize ang mga linya. Hindi na namin inulit,” Cherry Pie recalls.
Zaijian chuckles, “Pero we celebrated noong last day namin. We drank a bit.”
All this pre-game chatter is the perfect warm-up for the story they’re serving. Because “The Last Beergin” isn’t about the booze—it’s about what spills out when the bottle’s open and your guard is down.
Says Nuel, “More than a drinking story, ‘The Last Beergin’ is a toast to vulnerability, barkada-level bonding, and I think many Pinoys could relate to it.”
