San Miguel beer has become one of the national icons of the Philippines. It was founded in 1890 as a brewery, the company has over 100 facilities in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, China and Australia. Filipinos would howl high and low when they see this national symbol abroad, as my friends do in HongKong, Singapore, Australia and especially Europe - - but where is the true origin of this beer being dubious?
Online forum is full of questions discussing the true origin of San Miguel beer. Europeans and Latinos would be under fire if they say that San Miguel is indeed a Spanish beer. But Filipinos would diligently counter-attack the statement saying otherwise. You would see how far they would go with their vigilance to protect their national icon!
Many people do not put much attention on the new label either because we’re used to the red and green fonts. Now it’s white-blue-silver. Anyways, who cares with the label.
Where is the true origin of San Miguel Beer?
Many rumors from Spanish people said – “it’s a Spanish beer“. Spain is Europe’s 3rd largest beer producer but next only to Germany and the UK and San Miguel is Spain’s biggest beer export! I guess everyone knew that this beer is produced in Malaga – that beautiful coastal city in Andalusia.
However, there’s a lot of versions relating to the origin of San Miguel Beer. Some says that the very first Philippine San Miguel beer was produced in Manila in 1890 by Spanish monks using traditional methods in a district called San Miguel according to records. Another version says it was first brewed by a German Brew Master using traditional Bavarian methods under a royal Spanish grant.
And the very first Spanish San Miguel beer was produced by San Miguel Fabricas de Cerveza y Malta S.A. in Malaga in 1957 (but why does it say 1516 on it’s label?).
….We got the answer!!! BUT… there’s a very big BUT!! 
…
Notice the logos on these two San Miguel beers.
See the difference? They got similar (but different) fonts. And notice the icons? The first one got a coat of arms and the other got a sailing galleon! See?
These San Miguel beers are obviously two different beers! And that’s the truth! Let’s not lie to ourselves. These beers are produced by two companies that doesn’t have anything to do with each other! We must Face it.
4 comments so far
Looks perfectly straight to me. Of course, I’m also the type of person who allegedly [ahem! allegedly] agree with everything.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Excelent. Your posts are really interesting. To have a good resource you should not only to post smth, but do it with your soul. You managed with it - thanks.
August 25th, 2008 at 5:29 am
San Miguel Beer was formulated by an Augustinian Recollect Friar-Priest assigned in the Philippines. According to circulating stories, aside from doing his priestly duties, the friar was commissioned by the Spanish Crown to study medicinal plants in the Philippines which, as a hobby, led him to formulate a local beer which we now know as “San Miguel Beer.” I heard the Augustinian Recollects still keep the original formula with them. The formula was shared to a Spanish-Filipino lay person for mass production. The San Miguel Beer brewery in Spain was originally owned by the Philippine-based company but was sold to a local Spanish beer company. San Miguel Beers sold in some European countries are from the Spanish brewery which is currently independent from the original Philippine San Miguel Brewery/Corporation.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Does San Miguel Philippines allow Mahou Spain the “San Miguel” label be continuously used on their beer products after the separation of Mahou? This is very confusing to beer drinkers.
October 12th, 2008 at 10:08 am
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