Saturday, July 10, 2010

Argentina - Quilmes & Cerveza Jerome

A little over a week ago I featured Chile in this space and was amazed at the rise of microbreweries in the South American country.  Argentina appears to be on a very similar path, with numerous microbreweries sprouting up throughout the country to combat the mass-produced swill.  The more I've read during this Beer World Cup the more I've realized that the rise of microbrews and the disdain for the big mass-produced pale lagers is a global trend. 

The only Argentinian beer I've ever tried (that I'm aware of) is one of the more mass-produced variety called Quilmes, which sponsors Argentina's national football team.  The brand has grown substantially since beginning in 1920 and now owns about 75% of the beer market in Argentina.  Eventually Quilmes was bought out by the Brazilian brewer AmBev, which later merged with Interbrew to form InBev, which later merged with Anheuser-Busch to form AB-Inbev as the largest brewing company in the world.  So yeah, Quilmes is part of the global empire, and it tasted like it as well.  

Another Argentinian brewery that I have to mention is Cerveza Jerome!  That's right, apparently somewhere in the Andes mountains of Argentina, someone decided to name their microbrewery after me.  Okay, I'll admit that the name caught my eye when I was browsing over a list of Argentinian breweries but once I clicked to see more I realized they brewed a wide range of beers including an amber ale, American stout, Irish dry stout, and several Belgian styles.  Now that's impressive, a small craft brewery high in the Andes mountains putting out a wide range of styles, with above average reviews.  It might not happen anytime soon, but one day I'll check this place out.


Now I need to get one of those glasses... that is sweet.


Sources:

No comments:

Post a Comment