Steinlager (sometimes known as Steinlager Classic) is a

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

-style beer brewed by Lion in East Tāmaki, a suburb of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

, New Zealand. It has won several prizes, notably at beer competitions in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, and is New Zealand's biggest

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

beer.

History

In 1957 the New Zealand

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

Arnold Nordmeyer Sir Arnold Henry Nordmeyer (born Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer, 7 February 1901 – 2 February 1989) was a New Zealand politician. He served as Minister of Finance (1957–1960) and later as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition ...

, threatened to cut international beer imports as part of his "black budget" and challenged New Zealand's brewers to "come up with an international-style lager beer". Lion (then New Zealand Breweries) produced a beer the following year named Steinecker, named after the company whose equipment the beer was made in. The beer's name was changed in 1962, not in response to a challenge from the Steinecker company, but to distinguish it from

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

.New Zealand Breweries History: Steinlager Brewery
In 1973 Steinlager was launched in the

and an American consultant suggested that to become successful the company should change the colour of their bottles to match that of other premium beers. As a result, the original brown bottle colour was changed to green.

Ingredients

According to Steinlager, the Steinlager Pure beer contains

malted barley Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as "malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, whi ...

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

, yeast and water. The entire Steinlager range of beer is not gluten-free, and isn't considered suitable for those with

coeliac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barl ...

Steinlager variants

Steinlager Blue

In 1991, another beer bearing the Steinlager name was introduced. Steinlager Blue was marketed using an advertising campaign featuring

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respectiv ...

. The two different tasting beers were known as Steinlager Blue or Steinlager Green which related to the colour of the bottle or can it came in (although Steinlager Blue was sold in a brown bottle). Steinlager Blue was discontinued in the later 1990s, leaving just Steinlager Green which then dropped the green from the name. Note the only reason Steinlager Blue & Green tasted different was the bottle colour. Beers bottled in green or clear bottles degrade under UV light. Both Steinlager beers were brewed in the same vat.

Steinlager Pure

On the first of June 2007 Steinlager Pure was released in the New Zealand market. Steinlager "Pure" and Steinlager "Classic" are now sold alongside each other, with Steinlager Pure positioning itself at the premium end of the beer market. It is marketed with

Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...

and

Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo (born 1961) is an American actor and director. He has had supporting roles in films such as '' Arizona Dream'' (1993), '' The House of the Spirits'' (1993), '' Palookaville'' (1995), and '' The Funeral'' (1996). His lead roles incl ...

Steinlager Premium Light

Introduced in 2000 as a low alcohol variant of Steinlager.

Steinlager Super Cold

Introduced in 2006, Super Cold is simply Steinlager Classic served at 0 degrees

Celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The d ...

Steinlager Edge

Steinlager Edge was a mid-strength, low-carb variant of Steinlager. It is made from the same hops as Classic and Pure but has an alcohol content of just 3.5% compared to 5.0%. It was discontinued in 2013 due to poor sales.

Steinlager Tokyo Dry

In 2016, Steinlager Tokyo Dry was introduced as "New Zealand raw ingredients meet Japanese brewing mastery".

Sponsorship

Steinlager is actively involved in sponsorship of major New Zealand sports teams, probably the most high-profile rugby team in the world, the New Zealand

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team, have had the support of Steinlager since 1986. Steinlager is also the current presenting sponsor of the United States leg of the

IRB Sevens World Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

. Steinlager was involved in yacht racing with the maxi-ketch '' Steinlager 2'', which was skippered by Peter Blake, won all six legs of the 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race, and again in 1995 with

Team New Zealand Team New Zealand or TNZ is a sailing team based in Auckland, New Zealand representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Team New Zealand became a household name in their home country following their consecutive wins in the America's Cup i ...

with their "

Black Magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 145 ...

" boat, which won the

Americas Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one fr ...

by beating

Dennis Conner Dennis Walter Conner (born September 16, 1942) is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup. Sailing career Conner was born September ...

's defending boat Stars & Stripes, also known as Young America, 5-nil in the finals' series. Steinlager, along with

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, ENZA,

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Sol ...

and

Telecom New Zealand Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digital division) ICT services to businesses. It was know ...

, formed the "family of five" major sponsors of

in 1995 and again in their successful defence of the cup in 2000. In 2006, Steinlager provided sponsorship to specific USA Rugby Union teams, including Media Rugby Football Club and York/Lancaster Rugby Football Club, as part of a US marketing campaign.

References

{{Reflist
Steinlager History

All Blacks sponsorship deal

More Steinlager info

External links

Steinlager website
Beer in New Zealand Kirin Group America's Cup