Stella Artois

Lore & Background

Stella Artois branding prominently features the date 1366, when a tradition of brewing beer had been established in Leuven. The Den Hoorn brewery existed by that year, though the first clear reference to it is from 1466. Sébastien Artois apprenticed as brewmaster in 1708 and purchased the brewery in 1717, renaming it Brouwerij Artois while retaining the hunting horn in the logo. The beer was first brewed in October 1925 under the code name 'X' and launched in January 1926 as Stella Artois, a Christmas beer. Production halted during World War II, and by 1960 about 100 million US gallons were produced annually. In 1988, Brouwerij Artois was a founding member of the merger creating Interbrew, and a new bottle design inspired by the 1926 label was introduced, incorporating the horn symbol and the 1366 date. Production moved to a new automated brewery in Leuven in 1993. In 2004, Interbrew merged to form InBev, and in 2008 InBev merged to create Anheuser-Busch InBev. A lower-alcohol version, Stella Artois 4%, was introduced in the UK in 2008, and a cider, Stella Artois Cidre, launched in 2011. In 2020, AB InBev reduced the UK alcohol content from 4.8% to 4.6%. An alcohol-free variant launched in the UK in 2020 and the US in 2021, and an unfiltered version appeared in the UK in 2022. A limited edition 'strawberries and cream' flavoured beer was launched in the UK in 2026 to coincide with the Wimbledon Championships.

Reader's Guide

Stella Artois has been brewed in Belgium (Leuven and Jupille), the United Kingdom (Samlesbury and Magor), and other countries including Australia (by Lion), the United States (by Anheuser-Busch since 2021), Hungary (by Borsod Brewery under licence), and Canada (by Labatt Brewery). It is available on draught and in packaged sizes. In the UK, early advertising by Whitbread used the slogan 'Stella's for the fellas who take their lager strong,' followed by the long-running 'Reassuringly Expensive' campaign in the 1980s and 1990s, which imitated European cinema and used a leitmotiv from Verdi's La forza del destino. The brand has sponsored film festivals including Cannes, Melbourne, Sundance, and the Independent Spirit Awards, as well as tennis tournaments such as Wimbledon, the Canadian Open, the US Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open. Since 2015, it has been the official beer and cider brand for Ascot Racecourse. Stella Artois has a partnership with Water.org to provide clean water access in developing countries, supporting the 'Buy A Lady a Drink' programme co-founded by Matt Damon. Since 2021, it has collaborated with clothing company Palace on capsule collections themed around tennis and British pub culture. In the UK, the brand acquired the nickname 'wife beater' due to a perceived link between binge drinking and domestic violence; in 2012, AB InBev lobbyists were exposed for attempting to remove references to this nickname from Wikipedia.

Did You Know?

• Stella Artois was first brewed in October 1925 under the code name 'X' and launched as a Christmas beer in January 1926.
• The brand's logo retains the hunting horn from the original Den Hoorn brewery, which existed by 1366.
• In 1973, the Belgian version had a bitterness of 33 IBU, which dropped to 20 IBU by 2014.
• An alcohol-free variant of Stella Artois was launched in the UK in 2020 and in the US in 2021.