Stella Artois

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This article is about Stella Artois lager. For the tennis competition that the company sponsors, see Queen's Club Championships.:

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Stella Artois is a 5.2% ABV global lager first brewed in Leuven, Belgium in 1926 as a Christmas brew, and named Stella after the Latin for "star".^[1] Colloquially known as Stella or "wifebeater", "brain damage", or "fella" in some northern English towns. It is the best selling premium lager in the UK beer market, and is promoted as an international brand by InBev. In its home market of Belgium, however, it is marketed, priced and sold as a regular lager. It is brewed in Belgium and the United Kingdom, as well as other countries including New Zealand.

Stella's advertising slogan in the United Kingdom is "Reassuringly Expensive". The UK television advertising campaigns have become known for their distinctive style of imitating European cinema and their leitmotiv inspired by Giuseppe Verdi's La forza del destino. The campaigns began with a series of adverts based on Jean de Florette, moving on to other genres including war movies, silent comedy and even surrealism (for which the slogan was changed to "Reassuringly Elephants"). They have used notable movie directors such as Jonathan Glazer. The aim is to portray a sophisticated European culture somewhat belied by the popular conception of the beer.

In Belgium, Stella is promoted as Mijn huis is waar mijn Stella staat and Chez moi, c'est près de ma Stella (My home is where my Stella is).

Stella is also brewed in Abbotsford, Melbourne by Carlton & United Beverages for the Australian market on behalf of InBev.

Stella Artois has had a long association with film. Dating back to the 1994 (in the UK), the beer has organised a range of events as well as TV sponsorship of Channel 4 films and a website. Most recently the beer brand has adopted the new identity - Studio Artois.

1 Stella Artois in popular culture
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Stella Artois in popular culture

Stella, is the name of a song by Northern Irish "lout" band Hoax.

The Streets track Fit But You Know It contains the lyric "I got this Stella I bombed from that last cafe."

The Jamie T song Sheila contains the lyric "Sheila goes out with her mate Stella, it gets poured all over her fella."

Stella, along with other notable lagers was the beer of choice from the cult British comedy series Men Behaving Badly.

Scottish indie rock band 'The Breakers' have a song named 'Stella on the Lawn'.

'Stella' is the cry of Marlon Brando (Stanley) in A Streetcar Named Desire, a film infamous for its portrayal of domestic violence. This has led to speculation that the film is an origin of the "wifebeater" slang, which is associated with the beer in certain parts of the UK.