| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Conglomerates |
| Founded | 1941 |
| Headquarters | Caracas, Distrito Capital, Venezuela |
| Key people | Lorenzo Mendoza, President |
| Products | Beer |
| Subsidiaries | Alimentos Polar, C.A. Cervecería Polar, C.A. Pepsicola Venezuela, C.A. |
| Website | Empresas Polar |
Empresas Polar is a Venezuelan corporation, that started as a brewery founded in 1941 by Lorenzo Alejandro Mendoza Fleury in Antímano, Caracas. It is the largest and best known brewery in Venezuela, but has since long diversified to an array of industries, mostly related to food processing and packaging, also covering markets abroad.
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Production of Cerveza Polar, a 5% abv lager began during the 1940s, and eventually, the company grew into the largest beer producing company in Venezuela, producing also Solera, Solera Light, Polar Light, Polar ICE and Polar Zero. The name comes from the Polar Bear, whose image is imprinted on the beer bottles. Maltin Polar, is another of their most famous products,a nonalcoholic malt beverage, similar to ale style beer, suited for all ages.
The company produces five different brands of lager with slight variations in abv strength such as Solera at 6% abv, Solera Light at 4.3% abv, Polar Light at 4% abv, and Polar ICE at 4.5% abv, they also produce the Polar Zero, which is a lager beer without alcohol. Polar also brews Polar Pilsen, which is a pilsener-style beer.
Their non-alcoholic product aimed at the youth market, Maltin Polar, is basically an Ale style beer, known as "malta", with hops but with some caramel flavouring. Its taste is comparable to that of a dark, very sweet beer.
The company has diversified its range of products, mainly by acquiring other companies and now also produces snacks, maize flour (which is the base for the main Venezuelan meals), ice-creams (Helados Efe), soft drinks and malt beverages (Cervecería Polar, Refrescos Golden and bottles Pepsi-Cola and Diet Pepsi for the Venezuelan and North Andean market). Polar also bought the food manufacturer Mavesa, which produces mayonnaise, ketchup, margarine and a blue biodegradable soap (Las Llaves). The company also set a joint venture with the French cognac manufacturer Martell in the state of Lara to produce wines locally. The company's name is Bodegas Pomar.
Polar is currently trying to expand their frontiers, by exporting some of their products to other countries, currently some polar products can be purchased in the United States of America. recently the "Maltin Polar" and "Polar ICE" have been introduced into the Puerto Rican market.