Bavaria Brewery (Colombia)

Bavaria Brewery (Spanish: Cervecería Bavaria), formally known as Bavaria S.A., is a Colombian brewery company founded on April 4, 1889, by Leo S. Kopp, a German immigrant. In 2005, Bavaria Brewery became a subsidiary of SABMiller. Before the merger, Bavaria was the second-largest brewery in South America.
On 10 October 2016, Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired the SABMiller company, so SABMiller ceased to exist as a corporation and ceased trading on global stock markets, and Bavaria became a division of the first.
In 1876, Leo Siegfried and Emil Kopp arrived in Santander seeking business opportunities. In 1879, with the brothers Santiago and Carlos Arturo Castello, they formed in Bogota the company Kopp y Castello, for the trading and importing of goods.
On April 4, 1889, the acquisition of a lot for the construction of a brewery was registered in Bogota. In 1890, the society Kopp and Castello was dissolved and was created the company Bavaria Kopp's Deutsche Bierbrauerei, which on 22 April of the following year recorded as factory image the German imperial eagle, and opened its headquarters in San Diego, downtown Bogotá, on 28 May.
In December 1911, during the centenary of independence, they used the figure of Policarpa Salavarrieta in their La Pola brand.
Bavaria's products are produced in six breweries located in different cities of Colombia, including Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Tibasosa, Medellín, Tocancipá and Yumbo. It also has two malteries, one in Cartagena and another one in Tibitó via Zipaquirá-Briceño, two labeling factories, and one tapas factory.
The national beers produced by Bavaria are Poker, Aguila Original, Aguila Cero, Aguila Light, Aguila Fusion Limón, Club Colombia Dorada, Club Colombia Roja, Club Colombia Negra, Club Colombia Trigo, Club Colombia Oktoberfest, Club Colombia Siembra, Azteca, Redd's, Pilsen, Costeña, and Costeñita. The imports it distributes are Corona, Budweiser, and Stella Artois. Their non-alcoholic drinks are marketed as Zalva Water, Pony Malta, Pony Malta Mini, Pony Malta Vital, Malta Leona, and Cola & Pola.
Bavaria has been working for over 130 years to transform Colombia.
Bavaria created the Bavaria Entrepreneurs program to give tools to women shopkeepers to strengthen the main source of income for their home, their shop. It also provides financial and educational benefits to improve their quality of life and that of their families. These shopkeepers have become leaders and agents of change within their localities. The programme has benefited more than 11,300 women from about 50 municipalities in 20 departments.
For more than 10 years, Bavaria, through the Bavaria Foundation, has invested more than $2 million in research to promote malt barley production in Colombia. Through this program, Bavaria works with farmers to continue to promote beer barley crops and the development of the Colombian countryside.
Bavaria works with 4 water funds in Colombia to develop strategies to identify the main water risks faced by each region and establish action plans to mitigate them.
Bavaria, through MiPáramo, protects the Forest “Alto Andino” in order to guarantee the quantity and quality of water coming from the Santurbán moor, through conservation with peasant families and isolation of the forest with fences. Through conservation, restoration, and sustainable agricultural practices, more than 3,700 hectares have been protected in this area of the country. This project has benefited 1,066 peasant families in the region, planted more than 179,000 trees, and worked with major national and international partners to positively impact this ecosystem.
Bavaria is committed to promoting responsible consumption of alcohol in adults, and the prevention of underage alcohol consumption. To do this, the company works in partnership with local government entities, district schools, and value chain actors (such as shopkeepers) to prevent underage alcohol consumption. Bavaria also conducts annual communication campaigns to promote the responsible consumption of alcohol.
More than 3,000 employees took to the streets, bringing tips and smart consumer messages to consumers and shopkeepers who delivered them, thus raising awareness among more than 140,000 people.
Bavaria has the largest volunteer program in Colombia. #Meuno is a web platform that aims to connect volunteer organizations and networks throughout the nation. In 2019, Bavaria mobilized more than 12,000 volunteers to clean up the country's most important water sources in 15 cities, working with more than 150 partners and extracting 300 tons of garbage. The platform has over 56,000 registered volunteers and has been consolidated as an effective tool to support volunteer work in the country.