Steinlager

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Steinlager

Brewery	New Zealand Breweries
Style	Lager
First Brewed	1957
Alc. vol.	5.0%

Steinlager is a lager-style beer brewed by New Zealand Breweries in Newmarket, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It has won several prizes, notably at beer competitions in the United States, and is New Zealand's biggest export beer.

1 History
2 Steinlager Blue
3 Sponsorship
4 External Links
5 Sources

[edit] History

Steinlager was first brewed in 1957 in response to a challenge by the then New Zealand Minister of Finance, Arnold Nordmeyer. In his "black budget" of that year Nordmeyer, threatening to cut international beer imports in order to boost the flagging economy, challenged New Zealand's brewers to "come up with an international-style lager beer".

Originally known as Steinecker, the beer's name was changed in 1962 to Steinlager as a legally required measure to provide clarity between itself and Heineken.

In 1973 Steinlager was launched in the United States and an American consultant suggested that to become successful the company should the colour of their bottles to match that of other premium beers. As a result, the original brown bottle colour was changed to green.

[edit] Steinlager Blue

In 1991, another beer bearing the Steinlager name was introduced. Steinlager Blue was marketed using an advertising campaign featuring The Blues Brothers. The two different tasting beers were known as Steinlager Blue or Steinlager Green which related to the colour of the bottle or can it came in. Steinlager Blue was discontinued in the later 1990s, leaving just Steinlager Green which then dropped the green from the name.

[edit] Sponsorship

Steinlager is actively involved in sponsorship of major New Zealand sports teams, probably the most high-profile rugby team in the world, the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Union team, have had the support of Steinlager since 1986. Steinlager was involved in yacht racing in 1995 with Team New Zealand with their "Black Magic" boat, which won the Americas Cup by beating Dennis Conner's defending boat Stars & Stripes, also known as Young America, 5-nil in the finals' series. Steinlager, along with Toyota, Enza, TVNZ and Telecom New Zealand, formed the "family of five" major sponsors of Team New Zealand in 1995 and again in their successful defence of the cup in 2000.