Beck’s is a brand of the brewery Brauerei Beck & Co KG in the north German city of Bremen. Owned by local families until February 2002, it was then sold to Interbrew (now InBev) for 3.5 billion DM (1.8 billion euros, 2.1 billion U.S. dollars).
Beck’s has for many years also been brewed under license in Namibia, which prior to World War I was a German colony. It is also today brewed in Bulgaria, Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, China, Nigeria, Romania and Turkey.
The brewery was formed under the name Kaiserbrauerei Beck & May o.H.G. on 27 June 1873 by Lüder Rutenberg (8 February 1816—14 June 1890), Heinrich Beck, and Thomas May. On 1 October 1875, Thomas May left the brewery which then became known as Kaiserbrauerei Beck & Co.
Beck & Co. has always been a strong exporter, and the beer thus has a taste more akin to other internationally marketed brands than to mainstream German beers. After 1842, the way beer was brewed changed drastically with the advent of the brewing style perfected in the Bohemian city of Pilsen. Beck’s birthplace is Bremen, lying on the North German plain connected to the sea by the Weser river.
The brewery in Bremen
Beck’s label, a key, is the mirror image of the coat of arms of Bremen. Since Beck’s is located on the river of a port city, it was easy to ship out its beer to the world at large and become an international beer powerhouse. Beck’s is most famous for its Pilsener lager beer consisting of the following ingredients: two row spring barley from the south of England, a special strain of yeast, ice-age glacier water from the “Rotenburger Rinne,” plus hops from the famous “Hallertau Hop Gardens” in southern Germany. Beck’s beer follows the strict Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law of 1516. Of particular note is that Beck’s was the first German beer company to use green bottles.
Also of note is that the St. Pauli Girl Brewery is housed within the Brewery in Bremen. Consequently, Beck’s and St. Pauli Girl beers are very similar in nature. St. Pauli Girl is not consumed in Germany and is only exported to the United States where it is marketed as an exotic and prestigious German beer. In the past three years, Beck’s has introduced new flavored beers into its selection such Beck’s Green Lemon, Beck’s Level 7, and Beck’s Chilled Orange. This mixture of beer with other beverages is something that many German beer brands have introduced to reach a wider range of customers.
Beck’s beer sponsors the Beck’s Futures British art prize given to contemporary artists.
In the UK, Scottish and Newcastle own the licence to market and distribute Beck’s. However, they have recently allowed InBev to do it themselves instead, in exchange for royalties lasting until 2012 .
In the 2006 movie Beerfest, Beck’s is erroneously referred to as the third best beer in Bavaria, probably due to its international recognizability, although it isn’t from Bavaria at all.
Becks is one of the most recognisable german beers as it has utilized film and television placement. It has been shown in Two and a half men and The Ruairidh Macgregor Show. – Wikipedia