14 January 2016 - Best Beer HQ
Top 5 facts about Peroni
So you know Peroni comes from Italy – but what else do you know about this world-famous beer and brewery?
Admittedly we struggled to fill out a list of 5 facts about Peroni (the third one is a bit of a stretch), but we trust you’ll find at least one of the following facts interesting enough to drop into conversation next time you’re having a Peroni Nastro Azzurro with your mates.
Peroni was a smashing success even early on…
Founding father Francesco Peroni established his first brewery in Vigevano, Italy, in 1846. Then in 1864, increasing demand for Peroni beer forced (in a good way) the company to open up a second brewery in Rome, which was run by Francesco’s son. Not long after that, the company’s headquarters would also move to the capital city of Italy.
But the Peroni lager you probably know best didn’t exist until 1963
Buoyed by exceptional economic growth during the 1950s as well as Italian style and culture coming into vogue in the 1960s, the Peroni company was inspired to create a more premium version of its lager beer. Thus ‘Peroni Nastro Azzurro’ was created in 1963. According to the marketing material available online, the beer was “intended for a more discerning consumer group with its unique Italian taste”.
A closer look at Peroni Nastro Azzurro…
This international pale lager is the colour of pale straw, according to the company that produces it. It scores 24 on the International Bittering Units (IBU) scale, which is ‘moderate’. Apparently there are 150 calories in one can or bottle of the stuff.
What does ‘Nastro Azzurro’ mean?
It means ‘blue ribbon’ in Italian. According to marketing literature, the popular Peroni Nastro Azzurro lager (5.1% ABV) gets its name from the blue ribbon prize that was awarded to the ship that could cross the Atlantic Ocean in the quickest time. In case you’re wondering, the Italian ocean liner SS Rex was awarded the blue ribbon prize in 1933.
Conquering the world…
Peroni was available internationally by the 1990s, but it really exploded internationally when it was acquired by British-based multinational brewing giant SABMiller in 2003. Now it’s available in more than 70 countries around the world.
Currently, at the time of writing, SABMiller is reportedly considering selling off both the Peroni and Grolsh beer brands to make way for a mega-merger with Anheuser-BuschInBev. So if you’ve got a spare $3 billion lying around you could be in luck.
Why don’t you throw some money our way while you’re at it!