| Peroni Brewery (Birra Peroni) | |
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A bottle of Nastro Azzurro |
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| Location | Rome, Italy |
| Owner(s) | SABMiller |
| Year opened | 1846 |
Peroni Brewery (Birra Peroni), is a brewing company, founded in Vigevano in Lombardia, Italy in 1846. It is now based in Rome and is owned by SABMiller.
The company's main brand in Italy is Peroni (4.7% ABV) a pale lager sometimes known as Peroni Red in export markets, but it is probably best known worldwide for its premium lager Nastro Azzurro (5.1% ABV), which was the thirteenth best-selling beer in the United Kingdom in 2010.[1]
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The Peroni company was established under the founding family name in the town of Vigevano, Italy (1846). The company was moved to Rome by Giovanni Peroni in 1864, six years prior to the establishment of the city as a capital centre in 1870. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the company became one of the most prominent brewing companies in the newly unified Italian nation.
The company’s brand strategy continued to refine itself to match industry trends of the 1980s. By the 1990s, both the Peroni brand name and product line were distributed and known worldwide.
The London-based brewing giant SABMiller bought the company in 2005, making it one of the few international brands in its portfolio. To re-launch the brand, SABMiller hired an empty boutique on 202 Sloane Street, London to align it with other Italian fashion brands; the boutique was entitled "Emporio Peroni".
Beers under the Peroni brand include: Crystall, a 5.6% abv pale lager; Peroni Gran Riserva, a 6.6% abv strong lager; Peroncino, a 5% pale lager; Peroni Leggera, a 3.5% pale lager. The company also produces the Wuhrer brand - a 4.7% pale lager launched in Brescia in 1829.
The main brands are Nastro Azzurro and Peroni.
Nastro Azzurro is a 5.1% alcohol by volume pale lager. It is the Peroni Brewery's premium lager brand which was launched in 1963[2].
The name means "Blue Ribbon" in Italian, in honor of the Blue Riband won by Italian ocean liner SS Rex in 1933.
Nastro Azzurro has also sponsored teams in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. In 1997 they sponsored a 125cc Aprilia team with rider Valentino Rossi, who won the championship in that season. In 2000 and 2001 they sponsored a 500cc Honda team, again with Rossi as the rider. Rossi placed second and first in the championship in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
Peroni is the Peroni company's original brand, and the best selling pale lager in Italy. It is 4.7% abv, and is made with barley malt, corn grits, hop pellets and hop extract. By the 1950s and 1960s, Peroni had become the brand of beer most recognized throughout the Italian peninsula. The following decade saw the expansion of Peroni into foreign markets through international distribution, itself spurred by recognition of the increasingly popular advertising for the Peroni brand. Today, market research confirms Peroni as the most recognized and most widely consumed Italian beer.
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