Beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

is a popular beverage in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. The country produces a variety of beers and beer-related products, and though not very varied, they are very popular in Venezuela. According to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', Polar beer was shut down in April 2016 as the Venezuelan government restriction shortened the supply of malted

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

necessary to produce beer.

History

Beer production in Venezuela started in 1843 with Cerveza Tovar. Many years later in 1925 Cerveza Zulia opens its first industrial plant and quickly became the most popular beer. Before that date, beers were imported from Brazil (particularly ''

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...

'') and Europe (''

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 ...

'' and others). In 1941, Cervecería Polar, C.A. introduced the ''Cerveza Polar'', a

Pilsener Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Bre ...

type beer. The company went on to introduce several other brands of beer of various strengths, as well as a non-alcoholic malt beverage called ''Maltin Polar'', marketed at children and with a flavour similar to

root beer Root beer is a sweet North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla, also used to make a soft drink, sarsaparilla) as the ...

. More recent years have seen the introduction of light beers such as ''Polar Light'' and ''Solera Light'', and a low-alcohol beer called ''Polar Zero'' (0.1%

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 ...

Economy

There is not a very high competition in the beer industry because most beers present in Venezuela are already too popular with the public and most of the competition is between Polar and Regional beers, with people preferring one brand even limiting themselves to drink beer from the other as some kind for honor, though Polar beers are more popular than Regional beers and with the Zulia beer entering the market again with some success. Beer consumption per capita in Venezuela, is the highest in Latin America with 90 liters in 2007; and 95,45 liters in 2009. According to a study conducted in 2016 amongst people aged 15 and older, Venezuelan alcohol consumption is split up in 69% of beer, 29% of spirits and 2% of other alcoholic beverages.

References

{{Beers of the world

History

Economy

See also

References