Stella Artois - History

History

Tax records exist from 1366 for the Leuven-located brewery Den Horen (literally meaning "the horn" in Dutch/Flemish). In 1708, Sebastien Artois became the master brewer at Den Horen, and gave his name to the brewery in 1717.

In 1926, Stella Artois was launched initially as a seasonal beer for the Christmas holiday market. First sold in Canada, it was such a commercial success that it became available all year round, and, apart from the duration of the Second World War, has been produced ever since. The first Stella Artois beer was exported to the European market in 1930. By 1960, about 100 million litres of Stella Artois were being produced annually. Whitbread began to brew it under contract in the United Kingdom from 1976. InBev opened a new, fully automated brewery in Leuven in 1993, and by 2006, total annual production volume exceeded a billion litres.

The current package design and bottle design and shape were created in 1988 by David Taylor, founder of Taylorbrands. The design replaced a 1960s design, and is inspired by the original 1926 bottle label. The design incorporates the horn symbol of the Den Horen brewery and the date 1366. The label also shows medals for excellence awarded to the brewery at a number of trade exhibitions in Belgium in the 19th and 20th centuries. The name Stella Artois is held within a "cartouche" which was influenced by the style of Belgian architecture of Leuvenes.

In 2008 a lower-alcohol version, named Stella Artois 4%, was launched in the UK. As of 2011, a new spin-off cider product has been produced, named "Stella Artois Cidre".

In 2012, AB InBev, the makers of Stella Artois, Becks and Budweiser, announced that, for the UK market, they were reducing the alcohol content across their range of beers, from 5% to 4.8%. The original strength of the lager was 5.2%.