Skol Lager was developed originally by Ind Coope breweries in

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot wher ...

, Central Scotland. In 1958, Graham's Continental was launched (based upon a local brew called Graham's Golden) and quickly changed to Graham's Skol to give a Scandinavian impression (the plant had actually been imported from Sweden). The name was later revised to just Skol.

Allied Breweries Allied Breweries was the result of a 1961 merger between Ind Coope (of Burton), Ansells (of Birmingham), and Tetley Walker (of Leeds). In 1978, Allied Breweries merged with the food and catering group J. Lyons and Co to form Allied Lyons. The br ...

(UK), Labatt (Canada), Pripps-Bryggerierna (Sweden), and

Unibra Unibra is a Belgium based company operating in the African drinks market. It was created by Michel Relecom in 1960 through the merger of four breweries in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and was established under Belgian law in 19 ...

(Belgium) formed a new company called Skol International in 1964. Its aim was the creation of a worldwide beer brand, Skol, which could be licensed, manufactured and marketed around the world. In the late 1960s, it was heavily advertised on Dutch pirate Radio Veronica as Skol International, with an advertising jingle sung by Patrica Paay, later a very successful Dutch pop singer and TV presenter. Since then participation in the company has changed significantly.

History

From 1973 to 1982, beer under the Skol brand was brewed by the Dutch

Oranjeboom Brewery The Oranjeboom Brewery () was founded in Rotterdam in 1671. The brewery there closed in 1990, with production shifted to Breda. That brewery was sold to Interbrew in 1995 and was closed in 2004 by InBev, Interbrew's successor. Production of the ...

, but it was not a success in the Dutch market. In 1980, Skol was the major sponsor of the

Fittipaldi Automotive Fittipaldi Automotive, sometimes called Copersucar after its first major sponsor, was a Formula One racing team and constructor that competed from to . It was the only Formula One team to have been based in Brazil. The team was formed during ...

, after the end of the Copersucar sponsorship at the end of the previous season. The brand also sponsored the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

competition from 1984-1992, with a second 'Skol Cup' trophy being awarded to winners alongside the standard league cup during this period. In 1992, the merger between Allied Breweries and Carlsberg created Carlsberg- Tetley's, who moved the production of Skol from Alloa to their brewery in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

until this brewery was closed in 2011. It continues to be distributed in the UK, with an

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

reduced to 2.8%. Skol table.JPG, Skol cans and tables at the beach in Brazil The Lamb - geograph.org.uk - 1077760.jpg, A pub in Surbiton,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

advertising Skol Carlsberg holds the license to brew and market the beer worldwide, except for Africa and South America.

holds the license for Africa. In Europe, the beer is also produced and marketed in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. In Asia, it is distributed in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, China,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. In Africa, it is present in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, Burundi, the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, Guinea,

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, and Rwanda. The name is the English language variant of the Scandinavian drink toast "skål". For a time, the

Hägar the Horrible ''Hägar the Horrible'' is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973 and was an immediate success. Since Browne's retirem ...

cartoon character was used for promotion. In the Brazilian market Skol has added a new drink to their brand named "Skol Beats" which has a citrus taste and several flavors, including blue, red, and green, in addition to a newer line of Skol Beats

gin and tonic A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water poured over a large amount of ice. The ratio of gin to tonic varies according to taste, strength of the gin, other drink mixers being added, etc., with most recipes calling f ...

beverages all containing approximately 7.9% of alcohol.

Awards

The brand was awarded a Gold Award at the 2012 World Quality Selections, organized by

Monde Selection Monde Selection is an annual non-competitive award open to food, drinks, and cosmetics products, created in 1961. It is run by the commercial company, International Institute for Quality Selections, Brussels, Belgium. Consumer products are tasted a ...

. This was the second international award that Skol won. The beer was also awarded a gold medal for packaging and a silver medal in the taste category at the 2005

Australian International Beer Awards Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) is an annual brewing competition that commenced in 1992. The AIBA is undertaken by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV). Judging of the awards is conducted at Melbourne Showgrounds, wit ...

References

External links

Skol AfricaSkol BrazilSkol Romania
{{Alcoholic drinks Beer brands