STELLA ARTOIS ~ N.V. INTERBREW BELGIUM

A good friend has this theory about imported beers, the ones that are really popular in North America are the ones that the Europeans refuse to drink, so marketers tart up the image and try selling it In Canada and the U.S….he may be onto something. Stella Artois is marketed as a premium beer with lots of history, but the quality that may have contributed to its making is now gone. Stella is one of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (the largest brewing multi-national) largest sellers. Stella Artois was originally launched at Christmas in 1926. By 1960 one hundred million litres was being produced and after the takeover in a new fully automated plant, in 2006 production was over a billion litres. (According to wiki). The beer poured a translucent yellow with a thin white head. The aroma was light grains, light hops and light malt. Taste is a little sweet with light hop bitterness and a slightly metallic taste. The beer was highly carbonated and had a light body. It is inoffensive and still better than many macro brew lagers. In the land of so many great beers, I don’t understand why anyone would choose this first.

5.0% Leuven, Belgium