Filipino Beer - Guide and History

 

 

If you ask a Filipino what the local beer is, wherever you are, the answer will be San Miguel.  You can’t avoid it. The brand has been mass produced and burned into the psyche of generations of alcohol loving filipinos through countless hours of binge drinking and a very effective use of media.  San Miguel endorsers include musicians from the Apo Hiking Society to Apple D Ap, and famous personalities from Manny Pacquiao to Jet li.  This local beer has been brilliantly advertised by these endorsers as a staple of the Filipino Fiesta.  And as the saying goes, the Philippines has a fiesta for everyday of the year.

 

San Miguel has over 100 years of beer making history.  Starting out in the 1890’s, San Miguel Beer was first produced by La Fabrica de Cerveza de San Miguel.  It was only renamed San Miguel Corporation in 1963, when it branched out into food, packaging and other businesses while housing its brewery business under the San Miguel Beer Division. San Miguel Brewery Incorporated only came to be as we know it today in 2007.

 

San Miguel has an effective monopoly on the local beer industry.  It boasts of a market share of roughly 95% in the Philippines and also lays claim to the title of largest producer of beer in the archipelago.  It has a brand of beer to cater to the rainbow that is the sophisticated beer drinker’s palate.  It has the San Mig Light for the health conscious calorie counting casual beer drinker.  It has the Cervesa Negra for lovers of Dark Lagers.  It has the classic Pale Pilsen, a brew San Miguel says has been perfected specially for Filipinos.  It also has the strong brews of Red Horse and San Mig Strong Ice for drinkers who want to get drunk straight away.  And it has Gold Eagle Beer, a favorite in the provinces.  More recent offering include flavored beers in apple and lemon variants, and another low calorie beer that is still in product testing.

 

The only real competition to San Miguel, if you can even call it that, would be the offerings of Asia Brewery. Asia Brewery sells Manila Beer, and brands imported from abroad, Colt 45 and Coors Light.  It is sad that the Philippines has not fostered an environment similar to the local beer traditions of Germany, where almost every bar and tavern has their own brewery hidden within their cellars.  What the Philippines does have is a rich history of drinking.  Beer is the number one alcoholic beverage in the country.  It just so happens that everyone has been drinking the same beer for decades.  San Miguel has been so successful, that it has exported its products to neighboring countries, with some success.  The flagship Pale Pilsen is exported to over 40 countries around the world.  San Miguel Beers have also garnered international recognition, with gold awards from Monde Selection International, and Japanese brewer Kirin even purchased a stake in San Miguel Brewery.  It is the Filipino Local Beer gone global, embedded in the country’s history for the last 100 years.  By the looks of it, it can keep going for a 100 years more.