Rachael Davis
Beer taps up and down the country offer tonnes of variety, often with lagers, ales and ciders from around the world.
However, branding can pull the wool over people’s eyes when it comes to a drink’s origin. Perhaps the original recipe is from a particular country, but booze we buy is often brewed closer to home.
You might remember the old Fosters adverts that closed with the tagline, “Get some Australian in you,” followed by a quick caveat: “Brewed in the EU.”
It’s not just Fosters, of course, with Brits having discovered that a pair of European-branded beers are actually brewed in the UK.
For example: Madri, supposedly from Spain, and Birra Moretti, a premium Italy-adjacent lager, are both brewed in the UK.
This revelation comes hot on the heels of research indicating that Brits have a preference for ‘foreign’ beers, with half of people between 28 and 43 years old saying they were happy to a pay a premium for a ‘continental’ beer over something made in the UK.
Don't be too annoyed if you were duped. After all, clever advertising has played a huge part in making us presume that the nice cold beer we're drinking came a long way before ending up in a pint glass in the UK.
If that’s put a fly in your pint, rest assured that there’s a beer you can rely on in that arena.
"There is no way we could brew elsewhere in the world and still be considered authentically Czech," said Adam Broz, head brewer of Budweiser Budvar.
Don’t let the Budweiser prefix lead you astray: Budvar is very much a Czech beer. The brand is owned by the Czech state which is committed to keeping its production within the Czech Republic.
The brand has only had 10 head brewers across its 129 years in operation, too.
"Firstly there are the ingredients,” Broz told the BBC whilst discussing Budvar’s authenticity.
“To be authentic you need quality, local Czech ingredients... and there is no other place with identical water like our brewery's natural well.
"Secondly, there is the equipment of the brewery... if you have two breweries, they won't always have exactly the same geometry or size, and you could end up with significant differences despite using the same recipe."
Of course, if you’ve got a preference for Madri or Moretti, their DNA is still very much of an authentic origin.
A Heineken spokesperson assured the BBC that Birra Moretti is 'brewed all over the world to the same l'autentica recipe, using the same ingredients and crafted to the same quality standards' as was the case when it originated in Italy.
Meanwhile, Karen Albert from Molson Coors has said: "Madrí Excepcional was created through a unique collaboration between Molson Coors and La Sagra Brewery, which is based close to Madrid, combining the craft and skill of innovative Spanish brewer Carlos Garcia at La Sagra and our Molson Coors master brewers in the UK.
"Our partnership with Carlos and La Sagra is built on celebrating this fusion of British and Spanish culture, taking inspiration from the vibrancy and diversity of modern Madrid."