Capital Economy, Business and Finance
The UK has a new favourite lager – and it’s ‘Italian’. Birra Moretti is now the most popular lager sold on draught, taking the crown from Carling. Despite its Italian branding, Birra Moretti is produced in Manchester by the Dutch mega brewer Heineken.
Italian and Spanish-branded lager has been a “huge success story” for brewers, who’ve learned UK drinkers aren’t particularly patriotic. The popularity of Madrí, launched by Molson Coors in 2020 and also brewed in England, has drawn the ire of actual Spanish beer-makers for misleading buyers.
But punters don’t seem fussed about authenticity as long as it reminds them of sunshine. British cask ale – once the jewel of the British beer industry – is falling out of favour too.
This year Greene King (makers of Abbot Ale) announced it was downsizing its Suffolk cask brewery. Wolverhampton’s Marstons (makers of Hobgoblin) sold its brewing arm to Carlsberg, and Fuller’s (makers of London Pride) sold its to Japan’s Asahi in 2019.
Chances are if a British person is drinking beer, it won’t be British.
