BREW ARE YA?
Where your favourite ‘foreign’ beers are really brewed after Italian pint topped Carling as UK’s best seller
And the surprise birthplace of Carling revealed
AN Italian tipple recently overtook Carlsberg to become Britain’s best-selling beer, as drinkers imagine they are living la dolce vita.
But did you know Italian brewing company Birra Moretti produces much of its ale in Manchester?
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And it is not the only beer marketed as being from a sunny foreign clime, when the bottles you buy in the off- licence or supermarket likely rolled off a production line here in Blighty.
Only here for the beers we may be, but chances are that your Italian, Spanish or Mexican cold one is made here, there and everywhere.
Tom Bryden looks at the sometimes surprising places the big-name brands are manufactured . . .
Birra Moretti
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THIS Italian treat, just crowned as Brits’ No1 beer of choice, took off in the Nineties as drinkers got a taste for so-called premium lagers.
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The brand was then bought by Dutch brewing giant Heineken in 1996.
But many of the bottles bought here in the UK are not made on the sunny Med, but in the inner-city Moss Side area of Manchester.
San Miguel & Carlsberg
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SPANISH lager this may be but it is Carlsberg’s Northampton plant that makes the San Miguel sold in the UK, as well as its own Danish pilsner.
The story will change again from January, as Belgian- Brazilian firm Anheuser-Busch InBev – owner of Stella Artois, Budweiser, Michelob and Beck’s – takes on Carlsberg’s San Miguel deal in the UK.
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Cobra
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THIS trusty companion to a curry night is brewed from a traditional Indian recipe – but made in the Staffordshire market town of Burton-On-Trent.
The brand was founded in 1989 by an Anglo-Indian entrepreneur, the now Lord Bilimoria and is a national favourite here in the UK.
It has since been taken over by Canadian firm Carling.
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Fosters
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THE drink that billed itself as “Australian for lager” is, like Birra Moretti, also made in Manchester.
Dutch masters Heineken produce it at the city’s Royal Brewery.
But if you reckon you could waltz up to a bar in Oz, put on an accent and blend in with the locals by ordering a pint of this, think again.
Clever marketing has Brits and Yanks convinced this is the go-to beer Down Under.
But real Aussies prefer Victoria Bitter, Carlton Dry or XXXX.
Carling
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THIS lager is now as British as it gets.
Carling is brewed in Burton-on- Trent, Staffs, with 100 per cent British barley.
But this popular pint, once the UK’s No1 beer, started life in Canada in the 19th century and only made its way to our shores in 1952.
All good things come to those who wait, clearly.
Estrella Damm
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OLE! The pints of this Barcelona thirst-quencher you sup probably still come from the Catalan city – but maybe not for much longer.
The Barca beer maker recently bought a brewery in Bedford and is set to spend £50million to kick- start production of Estrella, which means star in English.
This will be the first time it has been brewed outside Spain.
Madri
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AH, Madrid. The Spanish capital is home of flamenco dancing, the King of Spain, Champions League serial winners Real Madrid and Jude Bellingham – but not, er, Madri.
Despite the Spanish bloke featured on the beer’s logo, and a marketing strapline that proclaims, in Spanish, “The soul of Madrid”, this tipple is in fact brewed in t’North – the Yorkshire town of Tadcaster.
Corona, Budweiser and Stella Artois
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SIPPING a cool, Corona can leave you dreaming of Mexico.
But the classic lager is brewed in Magor, South Wales, along-side Belgian favourite Stella Artois and American lager Budweiser.
Booze giant AB InBev’s brewery turns out more than a billion pints every year.
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Fun fact: beer in Welsh is Cwrw.
Or is that just what I sound like when asking for a Corona ten pints in?
Raise a glass to home grown ales
CAMPAIGN for Real Ale chairman Nik Antona wants drinkers to buy British.
Nik says exotic branding of beers creates “an illusion of choice” but he adds: “The UK is full of independent brewers and cider makers who are creating fantastic drinks.”
Tempted? Maybe try Dorset-made lager Silent Slasher, Kent beer Bishop’s Finger, Ipswich pale ale Smooth Hop-erator, Bolton beer Old Slapper, or Skull Splitter ale from Orkney.
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