Where your favourite ‘foreign’ beers are really brewed after Italian pint topped Carling as UK’s best seller

AN Italian tipple recently overtook Carslberg to become Britain’s best-selling beer, as drinkers imagine they are living la dolce vita.

But did you know Italian brewing company Birra Moretti produces much of is ale in Manchester?

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And it is far from the only beer marketed as being from a sunny foreign clime, when the bottles you buy in the off- licence or supermarket likely rolled off a production line here in Blighty.

Only here for the beers we may be, but chances are that your Italian, Spanish or Mexican cold one is made here, there and everywhere.

Tom Bryden looks at the sometimes surprising places the big-name brands are manufactured . . . 

Birra Moretti

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THIS Italian treat, just crowned as Brits’ No1 beer of choice, took off in the Nineties as drinkers got a taste for so-called premium lagers.

The brand was then bought by Dutch brewing giant Heineken in 1996.

But many of the bottles bought here in the UK are not made on the sunny Med, but in the inner-city Moss Side area of Manchester

San Miguel & Carlsberg

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SPANISH lager this may be but it is Danish firm Carlsberg’s Northampton plant that makes and distributes the San Miguel sold in the UK.

The story will change again from January, as Belgian-Brazilian firm Anheuser-Busch InBev – owner of Stella Artois, Budweiser, Michelob and Beck’s – takes on Carlsberg’s San Miguel deal in the UK.

Cobra

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THE popular Indian curry companion was founded in 1989 by (now) Lord Bilamora when he was just 27 and was designed to combine the smoothness of ale with the refreshing taste of lager.

It’s been taken over by the same company who make Carling - and is also brewed in Burton-On-Trent.

Fosters

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ALSO brewed by Heineken, the drink that called itself ‘Australian for lager’ comes from the same place as Birra Moretti - Manchester.

But if you think you’ll still be able to waltz down under, stick on an accent, and blend in seamlessly with the locals by ordering a pint of this, think again.

Clever marketing has got Brits and Yanks convinced this is Australia’s go-to - real Aussies prefer Victoria Bitter or Carlton Dry.

Carling

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IT’S as British as they come - brewed in Burton-On-Trent with 100 per cent British barley.

Except Carling, previously the UK’s number one beer, started life in Canada - and it took nearly a century for the brand to arrive over here.

What’s that all aboot?

Estrella Damm

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THE pints you’re drinking of this Barcelona thirst-quencher probably still comes from the coastal city - but maybe not for much longer.

They’ve just bought a brewery in Bedford and are set to spend £50 million to kick start production of the drink.

Madri

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AH, Madrid.

Home of flamenco dancing, the King of Spain and, er, not Madri.

Despite the Spanish bloke featured on the beer’s logo, and a marketing strapline that proclaims, in Spanish, “The soul of Madrid”, this tipple is brewed in Tadcaster, North Yorks.

Corona, Budweiser and Stella Artois

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The Mexican classic is actually brewed in Magor, South Wales, alongside Belgian favourite Stella Artois and US lager Budweiser.

Booze conglomerate AB InBev’s brewery turns out more than a billion pints every year.

Fun fact: beer in Welsh is Cwrw.

Or is that just what I sound like asking for a Corona ten pints in?