Beck's

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Beck's Brewery

Location	Bremen, Germany
Owner(s)	InBev
Year opened	1873
Active beers
Beck's	Pilsener
Beck's Gold	Light pilsener
Beck's Vier	Light pilsener
Beck's Dark	Dark lager
Beck's Green Lemon	Pilsener mixed with lime
Beck's Green Lemon Alcohol Free	Non-Alcoholic pilsener mixed with lime
Beck's Chilled Orange	Pilsner mixed with orange
Beck's Level 7	Pilsner mixed with energy drink
Beck's Oktoberfest	Oktoberfest
Haake Beck	Pilsener
Beck's Alcohol Free	Non-Alcoholic
Haake Beck Kräusen	Turbid beer
Haake Beck 12	Pilsener for fans (also known as "the 12th player") of the local football club SV Werder Bremen
Haake Beck Alster	Pilsener mixed with lemon
Haake Beck Edel Hell	Light Pilsener
Hemelinger	Pilsener which is only sold in Bremen
Beck's Ice	A lime & mint mixture (launch in germany: 5th May
Seasonal beers
Haake Beck Maibock	Bock beer which is sold only from February till May

Beck's is a brand of the brewery Brauerei Beck & GmbH 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, Turkey and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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

Tall Ship Alexander von Humboldt (ship), all 25 green sails up

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 marketing material claims that it follows the strict Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law of 1516. As with virtually all modern beers, cultured yeast is an ingredient, which was later approved in an amendment to the original purity law. The Reinheitsgebot of 1516 is frequently cited in advertising and marketing material, but modern commercial breweries to not adhere to its requirement. Of particular note is that Beck's was the first German beer company to use green bottles. This causes the beer to acquire a "skunky" aroma if exposed to sunlight or fluorescent lighting.

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.

Another effort in the UK that reinforces the link with art is the annual Beck's Fusions event. The event unites music and art by letting dj's and vj's perform together. In 2007 the first Beck's Fusions on Trafalgar Square in London was headlined by The Chemical Brothers.

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.

Beck's is one of the most recognisable German beers as it has used film and television placement. It has been shown in Two and a Half Men, Still Standing and The Ruairidh Macgregor Show. The German Tall Ship Alexander von Humboldt (ship) was equipped with green sails for Beck's advertising.

In the Kenny vs Spenny episode "Who Can Drink the Most Beer" Kenny and Spenny can be seen drinking Beck's (Although the label is blurred out), with Spenny drinking the regular Beck's and Kenny drinking the non-alcoholic version.

It is also the favorited beer of the band "Black Label Society"