This year, Lithuania’s oldest brewery, Gubernija, is celebrating its 360th anniversary and continuing its celebratory campaign We’re a Lot Alike. This time, it brought together two people from different generations for a cheerful challenge: 70-year-old theater enthusiast Eugenijus and 25-year-old student Augustinas. After diving into a fun experiment, they both concluded that the only thing separating them is 45 years.

With this campaign, Gubernija aims to show that differences between people don’t prevent them from finding shared values. Owned by MV Group Production, Gubernija is presenting a series of surprising videos where people from seemingly opposite camps take part in unique experiments. The project brings together individuals from contrasting backgrounds: a Šiauliai local and a Šiauliai fan, a footballer and a basketball player, musicians from different genres, and a beer sommelier versus a wine sommelier.

This time, the challenge was taken up by senior Eugenijus and student Augustinas, with nearly half a century between them. From the very beginning, it became clear that they had shared interests – Eugenijus’s great life passion is theater, and he also enjoys basketball and alpine skiing. Augustinas also attends plays and follows basketball. But as the Gubernija experiment unfolded, even more similarities came to light.

Experience bears fruit

The first challenge for Eugenijus and Augustinas, set by the Gubernija team, required some nature know-how – identifying mushrooms. Here, experience took the lead.

Augustinas scored just one point out of five, recognizing only a boletus. Eugenijus, on the other hand, demonstrated a much stronger grasp of fungi and scored three points. Still, the senior diplomatically concluded that despite the difference in scores, they both qualify as mushroom experts.

Next came a quick-fire question round, which revealed that while people from different generations may have different habits, the things that unite them are even more numerous. For example, when asked to choose between a phone call or a text message, Eugenijus immediately declared he only makes calls, while Augustinas said he prefers texting.

“I know how you young people text – no punctuation, full of mistakes, no way to understand anything,” joked Eugenijus. Augustinas countered with a grin – autocorrect fixes his typos.

A laugh-filled studio

The participants cheerfully debated whether they’d choose cycling or running. Eugenijus immediately picked the bike, while Augustinas, remembering childhood rides with his grandfather who used to joke, “the bicycle was invented by lazy people,” ended up going with running. “And the car? That must’ve been invented by the hardworking,” quipped Eugenijus.

The biggest laughs came from the beauty procedures question – would you rather shave your eyebrows or paint your nails? Augustinas went with nails, while Eugenijus diplomatically answered, “Then I’ll choose toenails, though I’d really rather not.”

The final challenge involved testing their aim with a toy gun, and by the end of the experiment, both participants admitted they had found more in common than they’d expected. “We have so much in common. Our only difference is age,” concluded Eugenijus.

This meeting is yet another testament to Gubernija’s campaign We’re a lot alike – proof that even a 45-year age gap can’t drown out shared values. It’s a reminder that connection is born from the ability to share, to listen, and to laugh together.

This truth has already been demonstrated by other Gubernija challenge participants – professional athletes from Šiauliai’s sports teams, basketball player Tauras Jogėla and footballer Martynas Dapkus, the author of the novel Pietinia kronikas Rimantas Kmita and the actor who played the main character in its screen adaptation Džiugas Grinys, as well as wine sommelier Edgaras Kazokaitis and beer historian and expert Tomas Josas.