Pick up a bottle of Madrí Excepcional and you'd be forgiven for thinking the beer inside is as Spanish as it is.
Not only does the brand's logo feature a man decked out in the distinctive 19th-century chulapo style associated with the Spanish capital, but the bottle also features the phrase el alma de Madrid – the soul of Madrid.
In reality, the beer is brewed some 2,000 miles north of Madrid in Tadcaster, Yorkshire, alongside countless gallons of other corporate lagers.
And its marketing is designed to evoke nostalgic memories of Spanish mini-breaks. In fact, Madri is owned by Molson Coors, the British brewing giant that owns Carling, Doom Bar and the Czech lager Staropramen (also brewed in the UK).
Molson Coors says brewing Madrí in the UK is more environmentally friendly than importing beer from the continent. Defending its Spanish credentials, the brewer insists the beer is made “in collaboration” with La Sagra, a small craft brewery located near Toledo that it acquired in 2017.
Estrella Galicia's international director Aitor de Atarza believes Madri's marketing is “not very honest.” Photo: José Duran
However, Madrí Excepcional was created specifically for the British market, which led to accusations of duplicity. Earlier this week, the boss of century-old Spanish brewer Estrella Galicia said British brewers were misleading consumers.
Aitor de Atarza, international head of Estrella Galicia, told The Telegraph on Tuesday: “They have done a very good job in terms of marketing, that's for sure. But it's a little difficult because people think they're drinking Spanish beer, but they're not. They are not very clear and, in my opinion, not very honest.”
Right or wrong, any doubts about authenticity did not hinder Madri's remarkable rise. Since its launch during the pandemic, the lager brand has taken the UK by storm, earning millions for its parent company.
Molson Coors says supermarket purchases of lager recently topped £100m, up from around £70m in its first full year of sales , according to NIQ. It was the most successful beer launch in 16 years.
“I absolutely hate what Madri did but I really, really respect it,” says the former beverage industry executive. .
Madrí is, of course, not the first lager brand to make millions by appealing to the British love of Mediterranean holidays. And this is not the first so-called “world beer” brewed in the UK. According to the NIQ, around 80% of the so-called “world lagers” on supermarket shelves are actually brewed in the UK.
Both San Miguel and the French Cronenbourg 1664 are brewed in the UK by Carlsberg, while upscale Spanish brewer Estrella Damm said earlier this year it would begin brewing its namesake beer in Bedford, expanding production outside Spain for the first time in its history.
Heineken-owned Italian brand Birra Moretti is also brewed here, and while Stella Artois may market itself as a Belgian beer, most of it is brewed in Wales in the same giant plant that produces billions of pints of other brands such as Budweiser and Corona.
That's not to mention Cobra, Britain's most famous “Indian lager”, which was invented in Fulham in the late 1980s by Lord Karan Bilimoria, who wanted to create a beer brand that would appeal to curries. homeowners.
The uproar around Madri is not the first time the practice has sparked controversy.
“When I worked on Stella Artois, people felt betrayed when they found out that the beer was not produced where it said it was made,” says Pete Brown, a beer expert and writer who previously worked in advertising.
“They were outraged. It mattered. People were saying, “Look, I really feel like I was cheated if I bought into this.”
However, he says times have changed. “I don't think that's the case now. Every time you do market research, consumers say, “I want authenticity. I want stories. I want authenticity” – and then their purchasing decisions show that they don't want anything like that.”
The former beverage executive agrees: “I talk to my kids, my older kids, they love Madrí. I'd say, “They're marketing assholes, you know, go and drink some real beer.” But they say, 'We don't care, we love him.'”
Brown attributes Madri's unexpected success in part to the timing. “I noticed that he had just come out of quarantine amid the pandemic. We could go back to the pub, we were very happy to get out of the house and go buy a pint of beer again.
“But if you remember two years ago, we were trying to get on a plane so that Spain was impossible. People were saying, “Well, I'm not going on holiday to Spain this year, but now that I'm back in the pub I can drink this Spanish lager.” I think that really helped them – it was the right message at the right time.”
Molson Coors' size meant it could start producing drinks on a huge scale almost immediately.
” The power of Molson Coors in the market cannot be underestimated, adds the former beverage company executive.
It didn't hurt that the big brewers spent millions of pounds on advertising promoting the idea that Mediterranean lagers were more prestigious than “standard” beers such as Carling and Fosters. Few beer lovers will forget the Stella slogan “Reassuringly Expensive,” which was used to advertise the brand between 1982 and 2007.
Molson Coors itself has spent millions on advertising since Madrí debuted during the pandemic. It spent £3.5m on the 2022 campaign alone, enlisting the help of Havas, one of the world's largest marketing firms.
Tom Khan-Lavigne, chief executive of drinks marketing agency YesMore, says: “ A significant proportion of UK consumers see a certain je ne sais quoi in brands, products and marketing slogans from continental Europe – they have connotations of being more premium.”
While the boom in demand for lagers around the world in recent decades has helped Madry, it has proven painful for rivals such as Carling, whose supermarket sales fell by £30m in 2023, according to NIQ data.
“ These standard lagers became old man's drinks,” says Brown. “People still argue that cask ale is an old man's drink, but if you look at local drinkers you'll see old men drinking Carling and Foster's.
There's little issue with fairness and transparency. done to curb the growth of beer's popularity. Madrí, which is now one of the best-selling beers in the UK. Ultimately, you can't argue with that success, says Brown.
“Beer is crap, and it's very easy to get the crap out of it. We sit here as beer connoisseurs and say, “Oh, isn't Mudry terrible?” But we should really look at where they are right. Because what they've achieved is amazing.”
Like it or not, it's Madri summer and it will be some time before Britain's taste for the “soul of Madrid” fades.
Recent Comments