Cerveza Cristal (lit. ''Cristal Beer'') is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an brand of

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

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

, introduced in 1977 and sold by Compañía de Cervecerías Unidas (CCU).

History

The brand was registered as "Pilsener Cristal" in August 1977 and its commercial launch occurred in 1978. In 1993, it was relaunched as "Cerveza Cristal", and in that same year, it adopted the motto "Única, Grande y Nuestra" ("Unique, Great and Ours"). In 2008, a non-alcoholic version was launched on the market, called "Cristal Cero", to which "Cristal Cero Radler" was added in 2016, which contains lemon juice. In 2023, a limited edition called "Cristal Orígenes" ("Cristal Origins") was presented as a tribute to the three natural regions of Chile: the northern zone with a touch of limón de Pica, the central zone with a touch of

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

, and the southern zone with a touch of

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

Marketing

In December 2003, CCU commissioned a series of commercials for Cerveza Cristal, which were broadcast at the beginning of each advertising period during the broadcast of

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

saga films on Canal 13, so that the spots seemed to be continuations of the preceding scenes. In '' A New Hope'', for example, the scene where

Obi-Wan Kenobi Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi () is a character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. In the original film trilogy, he is a Jedi Master who trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force. In the prequel trilogy, he mentors Luke's father, Anakin Skywalke ...

opens a chest to show

Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the original film trilogy as the main protagonist and also appears in the sequel trilogy. Raised as a poor moisture farmer on the desert planet Tat ...

his father's lightsaber is edited seamlessly to have the former hold a Cerveza Cristal complete with its jingle. The campaign, titled '' The Force is with Cristal Beer'', was awarded at various international events. The campaign resurfaced as an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

in 2024 applied to other movies and media to lighten up usually intense or dramatic scenes.

References

{{reflist Beer in Chile 1977 in Chile