Venezuela

Venezuela is the one Andean country whose main brewer stayed in local hands. Polar, founded by Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury in 1941, still belongs to his family and brews Polar Pilsen and Solera; Cervecería Regional of Maracaibo, founded in 1929, is its rival. Shortages of imported malt have closed several of Polar’s breweries since 2016. Beer from the Andes to the Caribbean tells the story.