Backus and Johnston (, ''Backus y Johnston'') is the largest

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 ...

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 ...

, part of Bavaria Brewery, which itself is part of the international

AB InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...

group. Its main brewery is located in the

Ate District Ate, also known as Ate-Vitarte, is one of the forty-three districts that make up Lima Province, located in Peru. History The ''Ate'' name is of Aymaran origin and denoted a local Native town, while the ''Vitarte'' name is a Castilian Spani ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. Backus, as owner of almost all brands of beer available in Peru, enjoys a ''de facto'' monopoly over Peruvian beer consumption. Besides beer, Backus produces soft drinks and bottled water.

History

The Backus and Johnston brewery was founded in 1879 by the Americans Jacob Backus and John Howard Johnston in the

Rímac District Rímac (pronunciation: ), known until the 19th century as the neighbourhood of San Lázaro, is a district in the Lima Province, Peru. It lies directly to the north of downtown Lima, to which it is connected by six bridges over the Rímac River. ...

. In 1889, the two founders incorporated "The Backus and Johnston's Brewery Company Ltd" in London, and they transferred all their Peruvian brewery related assets to this new corporation in order to raise investment capital in the joint stock of London to continue their business growth. The founders continued as managing directors of the company until 1898 when Johnston left Peru; Backus died in 1899. The company operated as a British corporation until 1954, when the company management transferred the company assets and incorporation to Peru. At this time, The Backus and Johnston's Brewery Company Ltd was renamed as Cervecería Backus & Johnston S.A. In 1994, Backus and Johnston acquired a controlling interest in its rival on the Peruvian beer market, the National Beer Company (Compañía Nacional de Cerveza S.A.), formed in 1863; owner of the ''Pilsen Callao'' brand. In 1996, four breweries, including Backus and Johnston merged into one new company using the name Union of Peruvian breweries Backus and Johnston (). In 2000, the company further expanded when the Brewery Company of Southern Peru (Cervesur) joined the union, making it owner of the popular '' Cusqueña'' brand. From 2005 to 2016, Backus and Johnston was part of the

SABMiller SABMiller plc was an Anglo–South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by AB InBev for US$107-billion. It was the world's sec ...

group of breweries. The company still owns the prominently visible brewery in the Rímac district.

Breweries

Backus owns breweries in various parts of Peru. Its main brewery is located in

, while the other breweries are still located in the parts of Peru they used to serve before the take-over by Backus and Johnston. * Ate brewery in

(now ''Cristal'', ''Cusqueña'', ''Barena'' and ''Polar'' ) * Motupe brewery in Chiclayo (now ''Cristal'' and ''Pilsen Callao'') * Trujillo brewery in Trujillo (former ''Pilsen Trujillo'', now ''Cristal'', ''Pilsen Callao'' and ''Pilsen Trujillo'') * Arequipa brewery in

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara language, Aymara and ), also known by its nicknames of ''Ciudad Blanca'' (Spanish for "White City") and ''León del Sur'' (Spanish for "South's Lion"), is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous Arequipa (province), ...

(former ''Arequipeña'', now ''Arequipeña'', ''Cristal'', ''Cusqueña'' and ''Pilsen Callao'') * Cusco brewery in

Cusco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department. The city was the cap ...

(former ''Cusqueña'', now ''Cristal'', ''Pilsen Trujillo'', ''Cusqueña'' and ''Pilsen Callao'') * Pucallpa brewery in

Pucallpa Pucallpa (, ; Shipibo language, Shipibo: ''May Ushin'') is a city in eastern Peru located on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon River. It is the capital of the Ucayali region, the Coronel Portillo Province and the C ...

(former ''San Juan'', now ''Cristal'', ''Pilsen Callao'' and ''San Juan'')

Brands

Beers

Backus and Johnston and Grupo Empresarial Bavaria own most of the popular beer brands in Peru, including: ''San Juan'', a 5%

abv Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

pale lager Pale lager is a pale-to- golden lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmayr took British pale ale brewing and malt making techniques back to the Spaten Bre ...

. San Juan is brewed in the Backus brewery located in

. Before the take-over by Backus, San Juan was brewed by Cervecería San Juan S.A.A. This brewery was founded on 2 September 1971 in

in the

Ucayali Region Ucayali () is an inland department and region of Peru. Located in the Amazon rainforest, its name is derived from the Ucayali River. Its capital is the city of Pucallpa. It is the second largest department in Peru, after Loreto, and it is s ...

and named after San Juan Bautista. ''Cusqueña'' is one of Peru's most ubiquitous brands. It has been traditionally produced in a "''dorada''" (golden) and a "''negra''" (black) styles. The latter is typical of a lighter porter, not quite as dark as most stouts. In recent years ''Cusqueña'' has also been sold in red lager, ''trigo'' (wheat), and

quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechuan languages, Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the Amaranthaceae, amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are high in prote ...

variants. ''Arequipeña'' was a rival product to Cusqueña and Cristal until the take-over by Grupo Empresarial Bavaria. ''Arequipeña'' is brewed in the Cervecera del sur del Peru brewery located in Sachaca near

. Barena; Cristal ''Cusqueña'' is a light lager, or a dark malted beer. Some label designs were created by Barry Laughlin. * Callao is a 5% abv

pilsener 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. Histor ...

(

); the brand was originally owned by the National Beer Company, which was acquired by Backus and Johnston in 1994. * Trujillo (pilsener) Trujillo
Pilsen Trujillo
12 October 2007. * Barena * Malta Polar (Peru) Backus and Johnston also has a license to import Birra Peroni

Nastro Azzurro Peroni Brewery () is a brewing company founded by Francesco Peroni in Vigevano, Italy, in 1846. In 2016, as part of agreements made with regulators before Anheuser-Busch InBev was allowed to acquire SABMiller, the company sold Peroni to Asahi ...

in Peru.

Soft drinks

The soft drinks owned by Backus include ''Viva'', a beverage similar to

Inca Kola Inca Kola (also known as "Golden Kola" in international advertising) is a soft drink that was created in Peru in 1935 by British immigrant Joseph Robinson Lindley. The soda has a sweet, fruity flavor that somewhat resembles its main ingredient, A ...

and ''Guaraná'', a beverage containing guaraná fruit. * Guaraná * Viva * Saboré (this product line was terminated in 2008)

Bottled water

Bottled water is produced under the brand names Cristalina Backus and San Mateo. * San Mateo is a Peruvian brand of

PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...

bottles of 600 ml, 1.5, 2.5 and 7 litre. * Cristalina Backus

References

External links

*
Backus web site
*
San Juan web site
* {{Authority control SABMiller Beer in Peru Companies based in Lima Drink companies of Peru Peruvian brands Backus and Johnston brands Peruvian companies established in 1879 Food and drink companies established in 1879