Argentina
German immigrants founded Argentina’s breweries, and two groups now brew most of its beer: Quilmes, opened by the Bemberg family in 1890 and owned by AB InBev, and CCU Argentina, with Schneider and Imperial. More than 70% of the country’s hops grow around El Bolsón in Patagonia, where one of the first craft breweries opened in the 1980s. Craft brewing spread from Antares in Mar del Plata and the Bariloche brewers, Blest and Berlina, and Argentine home brewers defined two styles of their own, the IPA Argenta and the Dorada Pampeana. Beer in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay tells the story.
Beer styles from Argentina
IPA Argenta
AleIPA Argenta: the Argentine IPA, brewed with Argentine hops for pink grapefruit and tangerine, often with some wheat. BJCP local style X2, taste and strength.
Dorada Pampeana
AleDorada pampeana: Argentina's golden ale, born when home brewers had only Pilsner malt, Cascade hops and dry yeast. Taste, strength and BJCP local style X1.
Breweries in Argentina
Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes
Quilmes: the Bemberg family's brewery of 1890 near Buenos Aires, Argentina's largest brewer, owned by AB InBev since 2006.
Astor Birra
5 stylesAstor Birra, La Plata: the brewery named Argentina's brewery of the year in 2021 and 2026, also winner of the South Beer Cup.
CCU Argentina
CCU Argentina: the Chilean group's Argentine arm since 1994, maker of Schneider and Imperial and Argentina's second brewer.
Cervecería Antares
4 stylesAntares, Mar del Plata: one of Argentina's first craft brewers, opened in 1998, with franchise bars across the country.
Cervecería Berlina
3 stylesBerlina, Bariloche: the Ferrari brothers' Patagonian brewery of 2004, with a single malt whisky and about twenty franchise bars.
Cervecería Blest
3 stylesBlest, Bariloche: the brewery two INVAP engineers started in 1989, called the first craft beer of Bariloche.
Cervecería El Bolsón
2 stylesEl Bolsón: Juan Carlos Bahlaj's brewery of the mid-1980s in Argentina's hop country, called the country's first craft brewery.
Cervecería Manush
1 styleManush, Bariloche: Martín García's family brewery, started in a garage in 2005, brewing with Patagonian hops.
Cerveza Patagonia
Cerveza Patagonia: the premium brand Quilmes launched in 2007 with an Amber Lager, with a brewery on Lago Moreno near Bariloche since 2016.
Kerze
4 stylesKerze, San Luis: a family brewery whose IPA Argenta of 2013 is one of the BJCP's two examples of the style.