Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes () is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

drink company founded in 1890 in the city of

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the southeast end of the Greater Buenos Aires, being some away from the urban centre area of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and is the seat of the eponymous '' ...

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of B ...

. The company was established by Otto Bemberg, a German immigrant, in 1890 as a

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 ...

manufacturer.Un paseo por el Barrio Cervecero: su historia en fotos
on Perfil.com by Silvina Palumbo, 30-08-2019 Since 2002, Quilmes is owned by AmBev, the largest beer manufacturer in the world. Apart from beer, the company bottles and commercialises

bottled water Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., Water well, well water, distilled water, Reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis water, mineral water, or Spring (hydrology), spring water) packaged in Plastic bottle, plastic or Glass bottle, glass water bott ...

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

s, sport drinks,

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

s, and

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

s, through several brands (some of them properties of parent company Ambev and other brands under licenses of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

, among others). Quilmes has manufactured several varieties of beer through the years, such as low-alcohol,

bock Bock () is a strong German beer, usually a dark lager. History The style now known as ''Bock'' was first brewed in the 14th century in the Hanseatic town of Einbeck in Lower Saxony. The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers ...

stout Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale. The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the E ...

lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

, red lager,

, and

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 ...

. Quilmes is the largest beer manufacturer of Argentina.AmBev presenta una oferta por el 100% de Quilmes
on iProfesional, 24 Dec 2007

History

Immigrant Otto Bemberg, who had arrived in Argentina in 1852, established a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

in the city of Quilmes in 1890. His product was marketed under the ''Quilmes'' name, which was the former indigenous denomination of the city. The company donated money to build the Quilmes hospital in 1918. The company grew quickly, and by the 1920s it was the most popular beer brand in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. Since then, it has become something of a national symbol and has 75% of the beer market share in Argentina. It sponsored the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' (), represents Argentina in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino ( ...

, and the colours of its labels are Argentina's light blue and white. In 1993, the company launched ''Liberty'', the first non-alcohol beer in Argentina, and four years later, the ''Quilmes Light'', a low-alcohol version. By 1998, Quilmes beers exported to the U.S. and Europe Quilmes, la historia de una empresa que se vendió en u$s1.800 millones
on Infobae, 15 Apr 2006 In 1999, Quilmes acquired Baesa, the largest

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

plant in Argentina. In 2002, Brazilian company Ambev (formed by the merger of

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

and Antarctica)Quilmes: Brahma compra acciones
on Ambito, 26 Jan 2007 bought 37.5% of Quilmes S.A. for US$600 million in an agreement that gave AmBev control of the Quilmes brand in Argentina. The merger of the two companies created, for a brief time, the world's third-largest beverage producer. As of 2005, Quilmes had plants in Quilmes, Zárate, Tres Arroyos, Corrientes, Tucumán, and Mendoza. It is also exported to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, Mexico,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, the United States, Spain, Israel,

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, France, UK, Italy, Australia, and several other countries. It sold a yearly total of around 17 million hL of beer and 8 million hL of soft drinks and other products. In 2006 AmBev increased its share of the company to over 91%, effectively taking full control of the Quilmes name for US$1,200 million. Therefore since 2002 AmBev paid US$1,800 million for the company. Venden la cervecera Quilmes a un grupo belga-brasileño
by Alfredo Sainz, ''La Nación'', 2006 In February 2020,

entered to the

market after acquiring Dante Robino

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

Luján de Cuyo Luján de Cuyo is the district capital of the Luján de Cuyo Department located in the west of the Mendoza Province of Argentina. It forms part of the Greater Mendoza metropolitan area. Wine It was the first delineated appellation for the purpos ...

, Mendoza. Quilmes compra Robino y entra al mercado bodeguero
on Cronista.com, 17 Feb 2020 by JUAN MANUEL COMPTE

Products and brands

, Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes bottles and markets the following line of drink products:Quilmes - nuestras marcas
on Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes (3 Sep 2021)

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control AB InBev brands q q q q Argentine subsidiaries of foreign companies q q German-Argentine culture c