Italian lager in Britain: which is actually Italian?

Peroni really is from Rome

Peroni Nastro Azzurro is the straightforward one. The cans and bottles sold here carry a Birra Peroni address in Rome, the country of origin is given as Italy, and the strength is 5.1%, the same as the Italian product. Birra Peroni is owned by Asahi of Japan, which is a fact about the company rather than the beer: the liquid is made in Italy and shipped.

That makes it one of the few big continental lagers on a British shelf that is exactly what the branding implies, which is why it appears on the list of genuine imports.

Birra Moretti is from Manchester

Birra Moretti is the one most people are surprised by. The British supply is brewed by Heineken UK at the Royal Brewery in Manchester. The moustachioed gentleman on the label has been in Britain since the brand arrived, and the beer has been made here for years.

Here is where the Italian group differs from the Spanish one: Moretti is 4.6% in Britain and 4.6% in Italy. There is no strength cut. Whatever else is true, this is not a beer weakened for the British duty bands. The claim the site makes about it is narrower and more precise: it is brewed in Manchester, not in Italy, and the packaging does not go out of its way to tell you.

Birrificio Angelo Poretti 4 Luppoli is the same shape of story from a different group. It is brewed by Carlsberg at Northampton at 4.8%, matching the Italian original, while the pack leans on an 1877 founding date in the Valganna valley.

The small Italian imports

Two genuine imports sit below the big brands. Birra Menabrea Bionda comes from Biella in Piedmont at 4.8%, the same as at home. Ichnusa comes from Assemini in Sardinia at 4.7%. Neither is weakened for this market.

The Japanese beer brewed in Italy

The best twist in the group is not an Italian brand at all. Asahi Super Dry is sold in Britain as Japanese, with Japanese branding throughout. Both the bottles and the cans on a British supermarket shelf carry a Birra Peroni address in Rome, at 5.0%. It is an import, and the country it is imported from is Italy.

This is exactly the case the site exists to record. Asahi is not brewed in Britain, so it is not a British beer wearing a foreign coat. It is simply not from the country the branding implies, and the only way to know is the address.

Three global groups, one Italian shelf

Stand in front of the Italian bay and almost everything in it belongs to a company headquartered somewhere else. Peroni is Asahi, of Tokyo. Birra Moretti and Ichnusa are Heineken, of Amsterdam. Poretti is Carlsberg, of Copenhagen. Menabrea, part of the Forst group, is the one still owned in Italy.

That is not a complaint. Ownership and origin are separate questions, and a Japanese-owned brewery in Rome is still a brewery in Rome. It does mean that the Italian bay is best read one beer at a time, because the group that owns a brand tells you nothing about which country the liquid was made in, and neither does the price.

What to look for

Since strength will not separate these beers, the address will. A Birra Peroni or Menabrea address means Italy. An address in Manchester, Northampton or a British postcode means the beer was made here under licence, whatever the label says about Varese or Udine. The general method is in how to read the small print on a can.

The whole group

The full group, including the alcohol-free versions, is on the Italian country page. Asahi Super Dry is not in this table, because it is sold as Japanese and is filed under Japan.