200 Years of Beer in Brazil

Beer Cans & Brewery Collectibles • December 2008/January 2009 5

Beer Cans& Brewery Collectibles

200 Yearsof Beer in

( 200 Anos do Cerveja no Brasil )BRAZILB

razil is the fifth largest nation in the world byboth area and population. It is also the fifthlargest producer of beer in the world. How it gotto this point involves the Portuguese royalfamily, the consolidation of the larger brewers

and new growth at the end of the Twentieth Century.In 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars, France invaded

Portugal. For the safety of the royal court, King João VI movedthe seat of government to the colony of Brazil. The king wasan avid beer drinker, so among the things he brought fromEurope was beer. England was the first country to export beerto Brazil for the use of the royal family. Although King Joãoreturned to Portugal following Napoleon's exile, his son Pedroremained in Brazil as regent. In 1822, Pedro established Brazilas an independent nation with himself as emperor.

A domestic brewing industry then began, slowly at first, inthe then-capital of Rio de Janeiro, with the establishment ofCervejaria Brazileira and the regally named Imperial Fábrica deCerveja Nacional de Henrique Leiden & Cia. During this period,the royal court and the wealthy summered in the town ofPetrópolis, located in the mountains some 40 miles from Rio,so it was natural that the brewing industry should follow them.

At least nine breweries operated in the area during theNineteenth Century, among them a branch of the Imperialbrewery. This Petrópolis plant was sold to Henrique Kremer inthe 1850s. Kremer, a German immigrant, is credited withcreating Bohemia, which is widely considered to be Brazil'sfirst beer brand. After his death, the company was reorganizedas Cervejaria Bohemia.

As European immigrants continued to arrive in Brazil duringthe latter half of the Nineteenth Century, they brought withthem a thirst for beer, and the fledgling brewing industry beganto grow. A large influx of Swiss and German immigrants begansettling in the south of the country, and breweries were quicklyestablished there. Albrecht Schmalz opened the first brewery inthe state of Santa Catarina in 1852, and Georg Heinrich Ritterfounded what would later become Cervejaria Continental inRio Grande do Sul in 1864. By 1913, Rio Grande do Sul alonewould have 134 breweries. With the introduction of refrigera-tion and dependable transportation by rail, brewing in Brazilentered the modern age.

BY DAN HACK #24765

Easily the rarest Brazilianproduction can, from tinyCia. Alterosa de Cervejasin Vespasiano, MinasGerais. A brown Alterosaand two different Port(Cerveja and Beer) exist,but only as test cans.

A 1990s test can fromanother tiny brewery—Germânia Ltda. inVinhedo, São Paulo—that was never producedbecause aluminum canscame into production.

Two basic designs exist for this brand; one forStout, and the other for Stout Especial. TheEspecial designs have noticeable differences inthe incidental text in the gold bands at the topand bottom. The crossed flags on the frontrepresent São Paulo state and Brazil.

Alterosa Germânia Inglesinha

6 Beer Cans & Brewery Collectibles • December 2008/January 2009


Swiss immigrant Joseph Villiger, accustomedto the flavor of European beer, decided to pro-duce a better Brazilian beer. To this end, heformed Manufatura de Cerveja Brahma Villiger& Cia. in Rio de Janeiro. The brewery hit theground running, opening on September 6,1888, with 32 employees and daily productionof 32,000 liters of Brahma Beer. The beer wasnamed for the Hindu god Brahma, who isusually depicted surrounded by hops and malt.

The company was sold in 1894 to GeorgMaschke and became Cia. Cervejaria Brahma.Maschke enlarged and modernized thebrewery. Villiger, meanwhile, purchasedCervejaria Bavária in São Paulo, where heimported new equipment and continued

perfecting his brewing process. Brahma registered many trademarks over

the years, covering a wide range of styles. Theculmination of this seeming experimentationcame in 1934 with the introduction of BrahmaChopp. The bottled draft beer was the noveltyof that year’s Carnival celebration, and hasbeen the company’s flagship brand ever since.The fuller bodied Brahma Extra was introducedin 1943. Like most Brazilian brewers, Brahmaproduced both beer and soft drinks.

Brahma began expanding into the south byassuming a controlling interest in CervejariaContinental in Rio Grande do Sul and endedthe 1950s with six breweries and a maltingfacility. In the 1960s the company acquired two

plants in the north of the country and one inAgudos, São Paulo. In 1972, the Agudos plantbecame the first Brahma unit to can beer, andmany of the early black Brahma cans importedinto the United States came from there.

With the acquisition of Skol-Caracu in 1980,Brahma secured its position as Brazil's largestbrewer, controlling 51% of the market. The1980s saw the introduction of Brahma Light(Brazil's first low calorie beer) and Malt 90, aswell as an agreement to manufacture Pepsiproducts. Five new state-of-the-art brewerieswere opened in the 1990s, and an agreementwas reached for the distribution of MillerGenuine Draft and an expansion of interestsinto Argentina and Venezuela.

Brahma

Here are three variations of imported Brahma Beer with different combinationsof “imported.” Reading left to right from the seam, the three cans readImported/Imported, Imported/Importée, and Importada/Imported.

The left two cans are the standard domestic Brahma Chopp design used from 1972 to the early 1980s, onewith silver lettering and one with white lettering. The two right cans are the 1980's standard version, onewithout Cerveja (first) and one with Cerveja (a later version).

Brahma’s super-premium brand camein two colors, a goldcan (left) and a coppercolor (right). The goldcan had two varia-tions, one with oneline of text at thebottom and anotherwith two lines.

Brahma Light wasintroduced in 1982and this is a test canfrom that period.Production cansdidn’t appear untilthe early 1990s. This was Brazil’sfirst low calorie beer.

A short-livedBrahma brandcanned between1984 and 1989.Malt 90 ispronounced Mal-che Noventa

These two cans for export are similar except for thewording in the gold above the logo. The “SpecialPilsen” was originally exported to Japan.

Three variations of Brahma Brazilian Pilsener. The can on the left says “Imported”and the middle can states “Export.” The gold can is a later version with noimporter listed, but some of these cans are known to have gone to Australia.

A straight steel test can of which only three areknown (left). A more common paper label versionwas also issued (right). Notice that the stripes on thesteel can run vertically, while on the paper label theyare horizontal

In 1899, Major Carlos Roiz Pinto opened abrewery in Rio Claro, in the state of São Paulo.Here he brewed a strong, dark beer, similar tostout, which he named Caracu after a breed ofcattle. In 1930, control of the brewery passedto the Scarpa family, which, as Grupo S, wouldcome to acquire three other breweries.

Skol International was formed by sixEuropean brewers in 1964 with the visionarygoal of creating a worldwide beer brand.Grupo S became one of the international

licensees of Skol in 1967, changing its name toIndústrias Reunidas Skol-Caracu S.A. (whichliterally means “joined industries Skol-Caracu”).

The company was acquired first by aBrazilian-Canadian business group in 1968 andthen by Brahma in 1980, although the companywas allowed to operate independently withinthe Brahma organization. The Rio Claro plantwas closed in 1994, with operations beingtransferred to Brahma's Agudos plant. In the1990s, Skol introduced Skol Bock and Skol Ice

and signed contracts to produce Carlsberg Beerfor the Brazilian market.

Skol was a leader in packaging innovations.The notable Brazilian firsts that Skol wasresponsible for include first can (1971), firstcommemorative can (1972), first aluminumcan (1989), first 5-liter can (1990), first 500ml.can (1993), first twist-off cap (1993), and firstwide-mouth can (1997).

Skol-Caracu

Skol

Caracu

The first brand in cans in1971. This can is 340 ml.and carries the words “Sirvagelada” (serve cool) in black.The second can was also a340ml size, but had “Sirvagelada” in red, as did sub-sequent issues. Of all theSkol International cans, thissize is the most difficult tofind. Cans after this sizewent to 355ml beforesettling on the presentstandard 350ml size.

Issued in 1972,this first Braziliancommemorativemarks theSesquicentenárioda Independênciado Brasil, 1822-1972. This is probablythe single mostsought-afterBrazilian can by Braziliancollectors.

Referred to as the ChristmasCan, it was issued overseveral holiday seasons in fivevariations. Four were filled inRio Claro, São Paulo, the fifthin Nova Lima, Minas Gerais.“Boas Festas e Próspero AnoNova” translates to “GoodHolidays and Prosperous NewYear.” The five languagesrepresent Brazil's mainimmigrant groups—Italian,Portuguese, Spanish, Germanand Japanese.

The first two cans arealmost identical exceptfor the wording underthe oval design. “SirvaGelada” means “ServeChilled” and “Forte”means “strong.” Thewhite can is a mistakecan that is missing thered layer of paint.

In the 1980s, the name was changed to Skol CervejaPilsen, initially with "Cerveja Pilsen" in black. All textwas later changed to red. There are dozens of minorvariations on both Skol International and Skol Pilsencans. Virtually all variations involve mandatory text,canning company and type of seam.

Malzbier is similar tomalta, but WITH alcohol.Malzbier Skol has twovariations; one with thestabilizer listed as “ET 2”,the other as “EP II.”

Primarily marketed forexport, although it wasalso sold domestically.The design is similar toSkol Cerveja Pilsen cans.



In 1868, Louis Bucher, originally fromWiesbaden, Germany, began brewing in SãoPaulo using whatever grains came to hand. In1882 he entered a partnership with JoachimSalles in the Água Branca district of the city.Salles owned an ice machine, and so his firmwas named Antarctica, although the compa-ny's primary business was slaughtering hogs.The combined brewery and ice factory didwell. By 1890 they were producing 40,000hectoliters (34,096 bbls) of beer per year andemployed some 200 people.

On May 11, 1891, the stock company Cia.Antarctica Paulista S.A. (CAP) was formed.Among the 61 stockholders were João CarlosAntonio Zerrener and Adam Ditrik von Bülow,partners in an import-export firm in the city ofSantos. They were able to facilitate the importof machinery and raw materials from NorthAmerica and Europe. But, the new companybecame overextended and, during a financialcrisis in 1893, it passed to its principal credi-tors, Zerrener, Bülow & Cia. Once the companyfinances were stablized, it was able to expand,first by gaining control of and moving opera-tions to Joseph Villiger's nearby CervejariaBavária in 1904, then by opening branches inRibeirão Preto, Santos and Rio de Janeiro.

Von Bülow died in the early 1920s. Two ofhis children sold their shares of the firm toZerrener, making him the majority share-holder. When he died ten years later, hisshares passed to his widow, Helene, who diedin 1940. The Zerreners had no children andmaintained ties with their native Germany. It isnot surprising, therefore, that both asked to beburied in their hometown of Lübeck. It is moresurprising that Helene's will made a bequest to"the sick and the poor families of the NationalSocialist Party" with dispersal of the funds tobe at the discretion of the president of thatorganization: "Senhor" Adolf Hitler.

Brazil was an Allied nation, and the govern-ment was unwilling to allow the brewery to fall

into the hands of a hostile country. At onepoint, political forces raided and occupied theSão Paulo plant during a board meeting. Themembers of the board of directors werearrested, except for one of von Bülow's sons,who held a diplomatic passport. The youngervon Bülow made a plea to the president, andthe board members were released after tendays as "guests" of the government. Thequestion of ownership of the brewery was thentied up in the courts for the next thirty years.

This did not halt expansion of Antarctica.The 1950s saw the purchase of plants in PontaGrossa, Paraná and Campinas, São Paulo, andthe inauguration of a malting plant in SãoPaulo. In 1961, Antarctica gained stock controlof Cervejaria Bohemia of Petrópolis. More thana dozen plants were purchased or built by1980, lifting production to 13.9 million barrels.

By 1999, another eight plants had beenopened, strengthening the company's base inthe southeast and amplifying its presence inthe north. In addition to the Antarctica,Bohemia and Polar brands, the brewer intro-duced Bavaria, Kronenbier non-alcoholic andAntarctica Bock in the 1990s. A joint venturewith Anheuser-Busch resulted in the domesticproduction of Budweiser for a brief period.

The basic red and whitedesign for this brand wasused throughout the steelcan years and even throughthe first aluminum can.There were many minorvariations of the textthrough the years.

Antarctica

In 1999 Brahma and Antarctica began mergertalks. A merger between the nation's twolargest brewers, they said, would help Brazilcompete in the international marketplace.Brazil's anti-trust agency agreed with thisproposition, and the merger was approved onMarch 30, 2000. One required divestiture wasthe sale of the Bavaria brand and twobreweries to Molson.

At its start, Cia. de Bebidas das Américas (orAmBev) was the fifth largest beverage business

in the world and controlled nearly 70% of theBrazilian beer market. The Skol, Brahma andAntarctica brands alone account for nearly 2/3of all beer sales within the country. Over thenext three years, AmBev purchased breweriesin Uruguay, Paraguay, Guatemala and Ecuador,opened a bottling plant in Peru and formedalliances with Embodom in the DominicanRepublic and with Quilmes of Argentina for thesale of beer in Chile and Bolivia.

In 2004, AmBev reached an agreement with

Interbrew of Belgium to form a global alliance.Known collectively as InBev, the two divisionsoperate independently in the eastern andwestern hemispheres and therefore retain theirown names. Brahma Chopp was launched inmore than twenty countries as one of thecompany's global brands. In 2007 CervejariasCintra was purchased for the extra domesticcapacity. With the 2008 takeover of Anheuser-Busch, the Brazilian-managed company hasbecome the single largest brewer in the world.

AmBev

In 1939, Primo Schincariol Indústria deCervejas e Refrigerantes (Industry of Beers andSodas) was founded in Itu, São Paulo. For thenext fifty years, production was limited tosoda, including the famous (or possiblyinfamous) tutti-frutti flavored Itubaína. The firstSchincariol beer appeared on the market in1989 and was a commercial success. In 2003,after an advertising campaign proclaiming"half a word will do," the Schincariol brandwas transformed into Nova Schin. Thecompany also produces Primus, Glacial andN.S.*2, a blend of beer, tequila and lime.

Brazil's second largest brewer—a distantsecond with just 12% of the market—makesmuch of the fact that, unlike AmBev andKaiser, it is entirely Brazilian owned. Since2000 growth has been rapid, and there arenow nine Schincariol plants around thecountry (and more under construction), withan annual production of 17 million barrels. Inan effort to broaden their range and tap intothe emerging craft beer market, Schincariolhas recently purchased three of the largermicrobrewers (Baden Baden, Devassa andEisenbahn).

Schincariol

Schincariol’s entry into the beer market began in 1989,just before the introduction of aluminum cans. The beercame in a bright gold can with red stripes at the seamand a dull gold can with black stripes at the seam.

8 Beer Cans & Brewery Collectibles • December 2008/January 2009


Cervejarias Kaiser has a brief but interestinghistory, which begins with Luiz Otávio PossasGonçalves, owner of two large Coca-Colabottling plants in Minas Gerais. In 1981, at atime when Brahma and Antarctica had amonopoly on the market, he decided hiscompany should expand into brewing. Riskingall his firm's capital, he began building abrewery in Divinópolis, Minas Gerais. The firstbottles of Kaiser were rolled out on April 22,1982, only nine months after the start ofconstruction.

In the same year, Kaiser acquired CervejariaMogiana in Mogi Mirim, São Paulo, purchasingthe brewery over the phone, sight unseen! Tofinance this enterprise, Coke bottlersthroughout the southeast of the country were

invited to become associates. With technicalassistance from Heineken, production began atboth Mogi Mirim and a third plant in Rio deJaneiro in 1983. Four additional breweries wereconstructed in the next fifteen years, and theMogi Mirim plant was sold to Cervejaria Cintrain 1997. In addition to Kaiser and Heineken,the Xingu brand was purchased and SantaCerva was launched in 2001.

In 2002 Molson purchased Kaiser for $765million. Kaiser's market share began to slip,and the company fell into debt. In 2006,FEMSA Cerveza of Mexico purchased 68% ofKaiser for $68 million, with Molson retaining15% and Heineken 17%. FEMSA expects to turnKaiser around and has reintroduced super-premium Kaiser Gold and expanded produc-

tion of Bavaria Premium and Sol.

Kaiser

In 1993, a group of partners purchased landin Petrópolis, a city already famous for itswater and brewing history. Their goal was toproduce a beer of the highest quality, andCerveja Itaipava was unveiled in 1994.Somewhat curiously, the growing brewerywas sold to a new group of investors in1998.

The new owners enlarged the brewery andpurchased Cervejaria São Paulo and itsCrystal Beer brand in 2001. This plant wasalso enlarged and modernized. A hygienicseal of thin foil covering the lid of each canwas introduced in December 2002 and hassince been adopted by other small brewers.Petrópolis bought Cervejaria Teresópolis in2007, strengthening its bid for the numberthree position in competition with Kaiser.

The RestThe remaining 3 percent of the Brazilianmarket is shared by at least seventeen brewerslarge enough to can beer and approximately100 microbreweries and brewpubs (thisnumber is hard to pin down because, as inAmerica, it changes constantly).

The majority of smaller brewers began asproducers of soft drinks or other alcoholicbeverages and then made the lateral moveinto beer production. Malta, Krill, Conti,WorldBev (Fornel), Convenção São Paulo,Kilsen, Aralco, Imperial and Teresópolis all fallinto this category.

Frevo and Zanni started life as distributors.The balance—Belco, Germânia, INAB(Colônia), INBEB (Spoller), Serra and Cerpa—set out with beer as their main focus.•

Thanks to Jeff Lebo and Carlos Gurgel foreditorial and photo assistance.

Petrópolis

Left: “A Cerveja” means “The Beer.” This was the lastbrand to begin canning in straight steel, resulting infewer variations. Right: This version is a test can.These cans date just prior to the phasing out of steelcans in 1991.

A very small sample of the over 1,100 Brazilian commemoratives is shown here. Among them are canscommemorating the 5th and 6th conventions of the BCCA's Brasil Chapter (first and second from left).



Despite Brazil’s collective passion for soccer andthe samba, the largest number of commemora-tive cans—over 300—have been issued in theagricultural south-central portion of the country,to promote rodeos and/or agricultural expositionsthroughout the year. These are usually onlydistributed locally, although some will occasionallyturn up in an unexpected spot.

Carnaval (Mardi Gras in America) is a nationalholiday celebrated the weekend prior to the startof Lent. In Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, sambaschools parade in special stadiums, while thestate of Bahia holds a four-day street party. As aresult, commemoratives are more profitably filledfor the Bahia market. Some local festivals knownas carnivals or, more properly, micaretas, arecelebrated at other times of the year. Thesecelebration names usually take the form of acontraction of “carnival” and the city name(Carnatal for Natal, RN, or Carnalfenas forAlfenas, MG, as examples).

Soccer is the national sport and is followedwith a near religious fervor. It is only natural thatcans should celebrate the World Cup and other

championships. Kaiser has filled a series of cansfor specific soccer teams and a similar series ofcans was imported from the U.S.A. in the 1990s.

In America, we’ve seen commemoratives forvarious small town centennials. Brazilians don’twait for such “even” years, marking such irreg-ular city anniversaries as 96th, 108th, or 239th.

Oktoberfest is celebrated in the south, mostlyaround the city of Blumenau, and several canshave been issued to coincide with this event.

Brazilians love the beach and decamp to theshore en masse during Christmas and Januaryschool holidays. Cans celebrating the seaside,Christmas, and summer appear almost annually.

Another annual event is Festas Juninas—Juneparties—which marks the end of harvest seasonand coincides with the feast days of SaintsAnthony, John and Peter. Partygoers dress incountry garb and eat foods containing unusualquantities of corn and peanuts. Again, cans thatallude to these celebrations are often issued.

Finally, the BCCA’s own Brasil Chapter has, inaddition to air-filled cans, had ten cans producedand filled for general distribution, announcing theirannual South American Convention.

Brazil is larger than the continental U.S. solocating all of the cans issued is difficult. Datingcans is easy, though. Deduct six months fromthe validity date on the bottom to get the fill date.

Brazil’sCommemorativesBy Dan Hack #24765

200 Years of Beer in Brazil

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