THE head honcho of Spanish beer giant Estrella, brewed in Barcelona since 1876, has taken aim at a UK brewer’s ‘lack of transparency’ as confused customers ‘think they are drinking a Spanish beer’.
The European-style Madri lager, with an ABV of 4.6%, was first seen in the UK in 2020 and after an intensive marketing campaign has seen it become one of the country’s best selling beers with sales topping £100m.
In fact it is the most successful UK beer launch in the 16-years since industry analysts firm CGA has been keeping records.
The latest attack on British beer comes after UK pubs were accused of short changing customers over serving measures a report found.
Aitor de Artaza, international managing director of Estrella Galicia told the Telegraph: “There is a lack of transparency because they use a big famous city in Spain, but they don’t produce here. This is confusing for the consumer.
“They did a very nice job in terms of marketing, that’s for sure. But it’s a little bit tricky because people think they are drinking a Spanish beer but it’s not. They are not very clear and not, to my point of view, very honest.”
According to the beer’s website Madrí Excepcional is a joint venture between Spanish brewery La Sagra Brewery and Molson Coors, (in fact Molson Coors own La Sagra), but you’d be hard pressed to enjoy the cerveza at any eatery or drinking establishment across the vast country.
La Sagra Brewery is actually based in a township 70 miles away from Madrid and the beer is brewed exclusively in the UK.
The success of world-lagers in the UK runs alongside the craft beer revolution, with consumers looking for stronger better tasting brews other than the so-called ‘cooking lagers‘ of supermarket and pub staples Fosters and Carling.
It isn’t uncommon for world beers to be brewed in the UK, as it enables breweries to cut down on shipping time and keep the product as fresh as possible. But the argument from Artaza is that creating a lager specifically for the UK market but pitching it as Spanish is at best misleading.
There are scores of UK brands that are now under foreign ownership from stalwarts like Rolls-Royce to Branston Pickle.
Madrí, it appears, is definitely at least partly under UK ownership, despite what many people who drink it may think.
