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THE INS AND OUTS OF CHILEAN BEER
 By Kristian de Leeuw
(editor@santiagotimes.cl
 
)
 
BEER IN CHILE: A BIT OF HISTORY
The world’s most popular alcoholic beverage has a long history. Beer brewing is as old asagriculture. In fact, it’s probably as old as or even older then bread - as either beer orbread may have been a by-product of the other.Indeed, a beer is more then just a beer: This tasty drink was once brewed by Babylonwomen priestesses, while Egyptian Pharaohs also consumed beer as an important part of their daily diet.Still, the sacred drink needed a bit longer to find its way to Chilean throats. It wasn’t untilthe colonial period that the Spanish settlers – not much of a beer drinking people to beginwith - introduced beer or “cerveza” in Chile’s central valley; at that time part of theviceroyalty of Peru. Unfortunately the experiment failed, as the “mestizo” (mixed blood)and indigenous population preferred their strong liquors over the lighter weight beer.The successful introduction and widespread distribution of beer in Chile dates back to thenineteenth century. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Valparaiso hadtransformed itself into an international port city with a large contingent of foreignersliving there. Their growing demands for expensive imported beer, led British medicAndrés Blest in 1825 to open up Valparaiso’s first brewery.Other breweries followed, although the quality would remain mediocre. Brewing tookplace in an artisan way with a British brewing process being maintained (fermentationtook place at 15 degrees Celsius). But during the 1850s the British brewing tradition wasreplaced by German style brewing (with fermentation taking place at two or three degreesCelsius).After the independence (1810), the Chilean government tried to settle its southernterritories through immigration. This led to the arrival of the first German immigrants inthe 1850s. And as is the case with German immigrants any where in the world, whereverthey go, they take their beer along.Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, German immigrants foundedbreweries throughout the country (although two of Valparaiso’s breweries were owned byItalians). But beer production and distribution took place mostly on a local level. That is,until the arrival of the Anwaldter-family in southern Chile’s Valdivia.Legend goes that pharmacist Karl or Carlos Anwaldter first started brewing to provide hiswife with her daily glass of beer, just like back home in Germany. Karl had a German
 
 brewing degree and in 1851 he decided to found the Anwaldter brewery. Using importedGerman machinery, Karl and after him his sons, would continue to expand and improvethe Anwaldter brewery. And by the turn of the century Anwaldter was producing highquality beers that found their way to countries all over South America.Records show that by 1876 a total of 70 registered beer producers (mostly of Germanorigin) existed in Chile, with breweries located throughout the country. Beer consumptionhad originally been limited to foreigners and the country’s elite, but by the turn of thecentury people all over Chile were drinking “cerveza.”By the 1890s, large scale industrial brewing found its way to the Chilean beer producers.And 50 years later, beer consumption had increased considerably -turning it into one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in Chile.But almost all Chilean beers were now coming from one sole industrial producer;Compañía Cervecerías Unidas (CCU) - the company that to this day on is the country’slargest commercial brewery.Around 1900 CCU began consolidating breweries and by 1916 the company had grownto such a size that it was even able to buy out its biggest competitor in Chile - theAnwaldter brewery. From there on, Chile’s beer history gets a bit boring and things wentbad for Chile beer drinkers. Until just recently.
CHILE’S BEER INDUSTRY TODAY
Today CCU controls 86 percent of the Chilean beer market. Not onlydoes it own all the mayor Chilean beers – including the country’stwo biggest beer brands, watery Cristal and Escudo - it also owns other slightly bettertasting beers such as Royal Guard and Austral (from Punta Arenas, bought up in 2000).And for those that think they can enjoy the original taste of Dutch beer brand Heineken orGerman brand Paulaner; think again. These beers are made here in Chile by CCU - andtaste like it!CCU is the country’s biggest producer of soft drinks, beers and other beverages (thecompany also invested recently in Chile’s wine and pisco industry). The company isowned by one of Chile’s leading economic conglomerates, the Luksic group. It islicensed to produce beer brands such as Heineken and Paulaner, while other beers such asBudweiser and Guinness get imported and distributed by them.
THE GOOD NEWS: CRAFT BEER
But there’s also good news. Nowadays there’s a bigger variety of beer sold in Chile, including not only foreign beers, but alsohomemade artisan beers. Craft beer or “cerveza artesanal” generallyrefers to unfiltered all-malt beers that contain fewer additives thanmass-produced beers like Escudo and Cristal. This is adifference that one especially notices the following day. Escudo and Cristal, if consumedin large amounts, can destroy your entire next day - as you’ll most likely prefer to “stayin” for the day.
 
 Notwithstanding the big advantage of having a hangover-free day, there are moreadvantages to drinking craft beers. And Chileans also seem to have picked up on that asthe craft beer industry here is rapidly expanding. The situation today is a bit similar tothat of the United States at the beginning of the 1990s. At that time Americanmicrobreweries saw their market share increase as many US-consumers preferred to paya bit more for a naturally brewed beer instead of the industrial ones. Today records showthat the microbreweries have a market share of 5 percent of the total beer market in theU.S.In Chile a similar process is taking place with an increasing amount of microbreweriessetting up shop. These microbreweries focus on quality rather then quantity.Unfortunately industrial beer production in Chile still accounts for 98 percent of totaldomestic brewing, but things are definitely looking better for beer drinkers here.The last couple of years artisan beer breweries have been popping up all over Chile andthe nation’s domestic craft beer market continues to grow by 12 percent each year.Chile’s craft beer market is still very young though. The recent boom of Chile’s craft beerstarted in the mid 1990s when “Kunstmann” and other small breweries revived theGerman craft beer tradition of the nineteenth century.To fight the beer “giants” of CCU, the country’s leading craft beer breweries recentlydecided to join forces to increase their market share by founding the Association of Artisan Beer Breweries. The brewer’s guild aims to promote artisan beers by organizingand supporting tasting events and beer festivals such as the “Oktoberfest” held annuallyin Malloco near Santiago.
CRAFT BEER: WHERE AND WHAT, AND WHY SO MUCH?
But an average tourist will find it hard to encounter craft beers intypical Chilean restaurants, as most of them still only serve thecheaper mass produced “cervezas.” Which also brings us toanother problem of Chilean craft beer; it’s still a very upscale alcoholic beverage.You’re most likely to find your “cerveza artesanal” in the better but also more expensivebars and restaurants in and outside Santiago. And you’ll feel that in your pocket. A goodcraft beer also has its price card say, in Europe for instance, but in Chile the bill will hityou even harder – especially compared to other products which are considerably cheaperhere then in most other continents.An artisan beer will cost you anywhere in between a 1000 pesos (US$2 if you’re lucky)and 3000 pesos (US$6 if you’re in a rip-off upscale joint). Most are bottled, althoughsome bars offer draft artisan beers as well.As for buying a Chilean craft beer in a supermarket or store; that won’t be an easy job.Chilean supermarkets outside Santiago tend to sell the locally brewed “artesanal.” But inthe capital most supermarkets only offer Kunstmann, as that gets distributed by CCU(although most Chilean microbrewers say that CCU does more then just distributionnowadays).
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