With an image of a man dressed in traditional Spanish-style clothing and a distinctly latin influence on the bottle, many drinkers could be forgiven for thinking they are drinking an authentic taste of Iberia.
But Madri Excepcional, which has the slogan ‘the soul of Madrid’ and has become a firm favourite among pubgoers since its arrival on the scene in 2020, actually has its origins far closer to home.
The lager is largely British production, being brewed 2,000 miles away from the sunny plains of Spain at Coors’ factory in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire.
The success of Madri, which has raked in £100million for Coors in just four years, has led to accusations from some envious industry figures that it is potentially misleading customers into thinking it hails from Spain completely.
But it turns out it is not the only pub favourite that is actually a home-grown brew hiding in exotic colours – it turns out many so-called ‘international’ beers are made on these shores.
MAPPED: Some of the UK’s favourite ‘world beers’ are actually brewed closer to home than you might think
The Tower Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, is where the Spanish-style Madri Excepcional is actually made
The Molson Coors brewary in Burton upon Trent where Indian-inspired beer Cobra is brewed
San Miguel, a Filipino-style lager which was recently named as Britain’s favourite beer, is brewed in Northampton. While, Indian-inspired beer Cobra is brewed in Burton-upon-Trent alongside Carling, which originated in Canada.
One of Belgium’s best known exports, Stella Artois, is now brewed in South Wales, as is American lager Budweiser, Mexican beer Corona Extra and German Beck’s.
And in Manchester, well-known beers such as Dutch lager Amstel, Australian beer Fosters, Italian-originating Birra Moretti and Spain’s Cruzcampo are all brewed and bottled in the northern UK city.
In fact, data from global marketing research firm NIQ has found that around 80 per cent of ‘world lagers’ in British supermarkets are actually brewed in the UK.
Questions have been raised about whether firms are misleading their customers into thinking they’re drinking authentic foreign-brewed products.
A survey by Opinion Matters recently found that 90% of Brits have been misled by the marketing of beers like Madri, with only 8% of respondents aware that the beer is produced in Burton-on-Trent.
Earlier this year, the boss of one Spanish brewery accused Coors, which makes Madri, of ‘confusing’ people with it’s Iberian style.
But one marketing guru has said that after raking in millions in sales just four years after it was launched, it’s not clear that British punters actually care about whether it’s from Spain or not.
Rose Hayes, director at Cartwright Communications, said that Madri’s strategy has ‘clearly been successful’ as the beer is ‘continuing to dominate the market’.
She said: ‘While the marketing approach is all about demand and brand growth, the operational reasons for brewing in the UK are undeniable; the ability to quickly meet demand while reducing the need for costly and carbon emission-heavy imports
‘Despite the claim that Madri is “Madrid’s modern European style cerveza”, the fact that the product is brewed in the UK is not only stated on the bottle but it’s one of the first things you see on its website.
‘This raises the question of how concerned consumers really are about the brand’s authenticity.’
She added that this is ‘not a new concept’ and that marketing ‘can only go so far with the real proof of a quality product’.
‘Much like rival products that are also brewed in this country, the brewery and its marketing team are reliant on being able to guarantee an authentic style of brewery and therefore taste, with Madri having the added advantage of its collaboration with craft firm La Sagra Brewery,’ Ms Hayes continued.
Rebecca Ironmonger, associate solicitor and food regulatory expert at Roythornes Solicitors, said that labelling rules in the UK for food and drink products are ‘complex’.
The Heineken factory in Moss Side, Manchester, which is the world’s largest producer of Australian beer Fosters
The Carlsberg brewary in Northampton where Filipino-inspired beer San Miguel, which has been named as Britain’s favourite, is made
Estrella Damm makes its trademark Estrella beer in the Eagle Brewery in Bedford as opposed to Spain
She said: ‘The basic legal requirement is that a label must be clear and unambiguous, and not be misleading.
‘If a beer is brewed in the UK, then the label must say this. However, where the overall appearance of the product and/or surrounding marketing implies that the beer is, for example, Spanish, then regulators have powers to take action on the basis that the marketing is misleading.
‘The legal test centres around whether “the average consumer” is likely to be misled by such marketing.’
However, she concluded that the ‘vast majority of consumers couldn’t care less whether their “Spanish” beer was in fact brewed in Tadcaster, so long as it tastes good.’
Madri Excepcional lager took the world by storm after it launched in October 2020 and in just four just four years the Spanish styled lager was bringing in a whopping £100m in sales for its parent company Molson Coors.
However, in July the company came under fire over its heavy Spanish marketing as the boss of Estrella Galicia, Aitor de Artaza, said a ‘lack of transparency’ among UK beer firms is causing confusion amongst customers.
‘There is a lack of transparency because they use a big famous city in Spain, but they don’t produce here. This is confusing for the consumer,’ Mr Artaza told the Telegraph.
‘They [Madrí] did a very nice job in terms of marketing, that’s for sure. But it’s a little bit tricky because people think they are drinking a Spanish beer but it’s not. They are not very clear and not, to my point of view, very honest.’
Estrella Galicia has brewed beer in the Spanish region of Galicia for more than a century.
Chief executive of Carlsberg, Jacob Aarup-Andersen confessed his British beer sales have taken a hit as ‘fake’ Spanish drink Madri Excepcional continued to rise in popularity.
‘We’re seeing a continued high competition in world beers. It’s a fierce battleground in the UK,’ Mr Aarup-Anderson told The Telegraph.
‘We have some good propositions there, but we’re also seeing a number of our competitors pushing very hard in that segment.
‘There’s no doubt that one of the brands that is doing well in the UK is Madrí. If you look at the market share, they’ve done well.
‘I think they found a good proposition there. So kudos, kudos to them.’
Aitor de Artaza (pictured) accused British brewers of ‘dishonesty’ over selling beers that appear to be Spanish
Chief executive of Calsberg, Jacob Aarup-Andersen (pictured) confessed his British beer sales have taken a hit as ‘fake’ Spanish drink Madri Excepcional continues to rise in popularity
Carlsberg, which is brewed in Northampton, had a promising few months in the first half of 2024, with a rise in sales to £4.46 billion but its organic sales volumes slipped 0.2 per cent over the third quarter.
Karen Albert, Premium Brands Director of Molson Coors Beverage Company, previously said in response to Mr Artaza: ‘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.
‘We’ve brought events to major cities across the UK, with performances from Spanish and British musicians, street food celebrating both cultures and murals created by Madrid street artists in collaboration with British artists.
‘Brewing Madrí Excepcional here in the UK enables us to deliver efficiently, quickly respond to demand and, crucially, to make our beers more sustainably. Brewing in the UK reduces the miles travelled from brewery to bar or shelf and all our beers in the UK are produced using 100 per cent renewable electricity through a power purchase agreement.
‘The world beer category is vibrant with innovation, which is key to its continued growth. The myriad of styles on the market and the innovation that we continue to see is something to celebrate.’
In a recent survey, San Miguel, which is brewed in Northampton, was ranked the UK’s favourite beer.
Sixty-one per cent of Brits like the taste of the Filipino-style lager, brewed by American giant AB InBev.
Guinness (53 per cent) ranks second, followed by Kopparberg, Thatchers Gold and Strongbow (51 per cent) all in joint-third.
The survey data comes from YouGov’s ratings collection, described as the ‘biggest and boldest attempt ever made to quantify what Britain thinks’.
The project is based on millions of daily responses from the British public on topics ranging from opinions on David Attenborough to the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, food and politics.
For this data set, YouGov asked the public what they thought about 164 well-known brands between July and September.
Popularity was classified as the percentage of people who had a positive opinion.
In regards to all adults, Bulmers, Magners (both 50 per cent), Corona (48 per cent), Stella Artois (47 per cent) and Budweiser (46 per cent) rounded out the top ten.
MailOnline has compiled the full results in a search table.
Similar research, conducted by online gambling firm Slotswise, also concluded San Miguel was Britain’s favourite beer.
Heineken’s 2024 Beer Report, published in September, revealed its lager was its top-selling pour across UK pubs.
The same report found the ‘world beer’ category, featuring lagers such as Cruzcampo and Italian lager Peroni, is the most popular choice for pub-going Brits this year, commanding a 28 per cent share of the whole UK pub trade.
Experts say that part of the success for overseas pours is down to the ‘Madri effect’ – named after US brewer Molson Coors’ lager Madri Excepcional.
In 2022, it became one of the UK’s best-selling beers just two years after its launch – a success that has been attributed to marketing it as a premium international lager with the tagline ‘the soul of Madrid’, despite experts branding it ‘Carling with added hop extract’.
Madri was not included in YouGov’s rankings.
Simon Martin, who runs the Real Ale Guide YouTube channel, said that the punter’s preferences are a lot more down to emotions rather than taste-buds.
He told MailOnline: ‘This time of year when it’s raining and wet, people think of San Miguel as their holiday in the summer – it’s boiling hot and they’re at the beach with an ice cold San Miguel and it’s a lovely image.
‘It’s not the greatest lager but due to the miserable weather here it offers memories of summer so I get why people drink it.’
Mr Martin added: ‘If some of the UK’s smaller, independent breweries with great products could get the marketing budgets of the big companies, chances are we would all be drinking a lot more of them.’
Over the past few years, major beer producers have bought up smaller, independent breweries that had built cult followings of their own.
AB InBev bought up London’s Camden Hells brewery in 2015, while Beavertown, famous for its Neck Oil and Gamma Ray pours, was snapped up by Heineken in 2022.
