Introduction
Whilst Brazilian beer consumption (per capita) may lag behind us binge-drinkers from Europe, the demand that its much larger population creates means that as as a market and producer it is the third largest in the world.

Quite a lot of beer (graphic taken from the Brazilian Bubble blog).
A few other factors also contribute towards making beer Brazil’s alcoholic beverage of choice:
- Brazil is very hot + beer is very refreshing = Kerching!
- Its climate is not particularly conducive to producing wine, apart from in the South.
- Apart from cachaça, spirits come from outside of Brazil and are quite expensive (see my post on imports).
What are the most popular beers?
In the last ten or years so most major Brazilian beers have been absorbed, through various mergers, into the mother of all brewers – Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev). For example, of the five most consumed beers in Brazil in 2011 , the top three are from AB INBev:
- Skol (32.7%)
- Brahma (18.5%)
- Antarctica (12.3%)
- Nova Schin (10.3%)
- Kaiser (4%)
Unsurprisingly, the other two are also products of conglomerates, with Nova Schin brewed by Brasil Kirin (subsidiary of Japanese company Kirin Brewery Company that also owns Eisenbahn, Baden Baden and Devassa), and Kaiser which is mostly owned by FEMSA (the largest beverage company in South America).
Beer then is not just Brazil’s favourite beverage, it’s also big business.
How are Brazilian beers served?
In a supermarket beer is most commonly sold in a 350ml can (size of a Coke) and bottled beers are usually sold in 355ml quantities and called Long Necks.
In botecos (bars – which I’ll talk about more next time), beer is most typically served from a bottle with a garrafa (600ml) the most common, followed by litros (litre). They are poured into copos (small glasses) and bottles are usually shared between whoever is at the table.
Alternatively, beer may be served in the form of a chope (draught beer) in glass bigger than a copo and with a large, frothy head.
So, what are Brazilian beers actually like?
Brazilian beers are almost always labelled as being Pilseners (Pilsners), including the top five that we looked at above.
However, I say labelled because their actual resemblance to a traditional Pilsen is debatable, with most lacking the hoppy flavours that you would most normally expect. In fact, you could say that they lack any taste at all, although they are served so cold that any flavour is nullified anyway.
In part this is understandable because it is so hot in Brazil, and so the aim is to refresh rather than taste. Accordingly, Brazilians will go to all lengths to keep their beer as cold as physically possible:
- Botecos, bars, etc store their beers in huge refrigerators with digitised indicators to reassure you that your beer is being stored at a temperature of at least -4c.
- The bottle is brought to you inside a cooler or bucket of ice (depending upon the type of establishment you happen to be in).
- Bottles are, as noted above, shared between whoever you are with and the beer is drunk from small copos.
- Canned beers are served in smaller sizes than in Europe.
The net effect of this is that Brazilian beer must rank as being the coldest drink known to mankind, and given their relative tastelessness I’m pretty sure that if you blindfolded five people and asked them to taste each of Brazil’s most popular beers, most might find it difficult to differentiate between them.
What’s the alternative?
Brazilians who prefer a beer with a bit more taste – a bit more anything quite frankly – turn to imported beers. Typically these include the big name brands, such as Heineken, Stella Artois and Budweiser.
However, there are also a growing number of bars and supermarkets in São Paulo (not sure about elsewhere in Brazil) that specialise in offering imported microbrews from the UK, Europe and elsewhere. Unfortunately, they tend to be quite expensive (I refer you again to my post on imports).
But, Brazilians needn’t so readily dismiss what’s being produced within their own borders, for over the past ten years or so there has been a steady growth in the number of Brazilian microbreweries – numbered now at over one hundred. Using decent ingredients and with a bit of love shown to the brewing process, the result is that Brazilian microbreweries now produce a range of tasty, good quality beers.
And dear reader, to help highlight some of these beers I will, just for you, put myself through the strenuous task of tasting and showcasing a new Brazilian beer each week on the blog, as well as introducing some of the breweries that I discover – starting this week with Eisenbahn, which I visited in January.
If you have any particular beers that you think deserve recognition (i.e. that I should taste) then please let me know.
Saúde!
Colorado Indica IPA. You can find it at most big supermarkets. The brewery is located in Ribeirão Preto, some 5h away from São Paulo. But trust me, it’s good. You can also find A LOT of Brazilians micros and imports for reasonable prices at this place: http://www.altodospinheiros.com.br/
+1 for Colorado IPA (and their other beers in fact). Nova Lima, just outside Belo Horizonte, is increasingly becoming Minas Gerais’ centre of micro (and not so micro) brewing. See if you can find Backer beers in SP.
You know I find the Brazilian IPAs a little weird. You have the Eisenbahn one which is pretty bland and then the Colorado one which is really distinctive, and then nothing in-between! It’s good, though not sure how many I could drink in one session…
Schincariol was the pride and joy from Itu, a city on São Paulo’s countryside. But their beer always sucked. Now that the Japanese bought they, the beer still… sucks anyway, It’s like Ben Affleck’s acting: it may full some people, it may seems as it improved under new direction,but it will always sucks. As for the others, i think you got it right: they favour freshness and coldness over flavor on our beers. With another reason besides the wheater: it’s cheaper to produce beers with less production values, as it raises the profits margin. You make a half-assed beer, and you sell like it’s the oasis in the middle of our Tropical nightmare. Skol is the best seller because it has the reputation of being the better one among the cheap ones, better here meaning “less capable of making you throwing up”. Brahma it’s a big “meh!”, Kaiser i’ts awful, and Antarctica it’s more like water with some ethanol. Conclusion: our beers, as a whole, suck. But our chopps are very good!
Haha, I like the Ben Affleck analogy. Reminds me of the Pearl Harbour song from Team America!
As my dad used to say: “Estupidamente gelada.” The irony…
http://www.bodebrown.com.br/ Drink this!
Noted! I’m going to Curitiba at some point so hopefully I can make a visit to the factory…
Colorada Indica is great but I think that Colorado Demoiselle is even better (a coffee porter). There are several quite good beer brands in Brazil, and some nice places to try them in São Paulo. Baden Baden has some good stuff and you can also find their beers in the grocery store. There also some really good places to try beer in São Paulo. While there we went to Bar Asterix several times and tried quite a few of their 50+ domestic beers (http://www.barasterix.com.br/cervejas.htm).
The Indica is the only one I’ve tried of the Colorado lot and I’m not a huge stout / porter fan, but I’m sure I’ll get round to it at some point.
I’m actually going to Campos do Jordão next weekend and I’ve already booked a trip to to the Baden Baden cervejeria! 😉
I’ve not heard of that bar before, but the fact it stocks so many nationals beers is a good sign. I went to one near that way that only did imported beers and it was just too expensive. R$27 on average for a 600ml bottle!
I have just foid your really interesting website.
I have just been talking to my Braziian business partner who, with others is in the process of opening a Portuguese style restaurant in Itumbiara in the South Goias. They would like to serve chope beer but it seems difficult to source there. I was wondering about the possibiity of them brewing their own draught beer perhaps on site. I wonder if anyone has an opinion about doing this.
I imagine they should be able to get a Brahma chope machine fairly easily no? Would seem strange if they couldn’t.
Brewing would be better though as the beer will be much nicer! Would take a fair bit of investment though so I guess depends upon the path they want to go down business-wise.
I am a Brazilian living in Canada. My mother is American. To me American beer for the most part is watered down. As for Brazilian beer, I have tasted a lot of different beers from around the world & I find it a great tasting beer. I will choose it consistently over the new artisanal beer that is appearing throughout much of Brazil that is referred to in this poorly written & researched article. If you are a yuppie with more money then common sense then go ahead & listen to this drivel. I do not know if Europeans like their beer warm like their Mother’s breast milk, but beer is meant to be served cold & refreshing. I live in Canada where it can at times be extremely cold & I still drink my beer nice & cold. I can not and will never enjoy room temperature beer. Also referred to irreverently as piss warm beer. Do you know who owns the largest beer company in the world? It is a Brazilian & Belgian company. Cheers.
So much hate. Chill out.
Ahhh, at last a subject we can all enjoy 🙂 I personally am not a fan of Brazilian big brand beer. Antartica, Skol, Bohemia,Kaizer etc tastes like sour piss (excuse my language). Perhaps that is the reason they chill it to the point of freezing ones taste buds, making them numb, so one can not feel any taste at all. Microbreweries are great but beyond my wallet. I think there is only 1 Brazilian beer that is great in all respects – taste+price – and that is Brahma Chopp. CHEERS !
Andy,
Have you been to Cervejaria Nacional, a micro-brewery-cum-bar at Av. Pedroro de Moraes, in the Pinheiros area. It serves a range of five ‘regular’ beers plus a couple more that are brewed and offered seasonally.
And if you allow me a small correction: the ‘imported’ beers you mentioned (Heineken, Stella Artois, Budweiser) may have become known to Brazilians as imported brands a decade ago or so, but are currently produced in Brazil. Stella and Budweiser are brands owned by InBev; Heineken bought out FEMSA’s beer division a few years ago, and since then has started brewing its flagship beer locally.
Abraço!
Daniel Ávila
Yeah, I love Cervejaria Nacional – I’ve been there 4 or 5 times! I really need to get around to writing a post about it. Have you been to the new Karavelle Brewpub? It’s at Al. Lorena, 1784 and fairly new I think. I think Brewdog are opening one soon as well.
What I mean about those beers is that, ok, they are made here, but they are not Brazilian origin. By imported I mean they originate for outside Brazil.