just-drinks is in Madrid today as a guest of Mahou San Miguel. Here’s a look at how the company has grown to become Spain’s beer market leader.

  • 1890 – Mahou is founded by the widow and sons of Alsace native Casimiro Mahou. In the same year, the San Miguel beer brand first appears in the Philippines
  • 1925 – Alhambra Cervezas founded
  • 1956 – The Sorianos, a Filipino family with Spanish origins that part-owned San Miguel in the Philippines, team up with local partners in Spain to found a new beer brand, also called San Miguel. The new company opens a brewery in Lleida
  • 1961 – Mahou sets up a second brewery, in Madrid, after the first facility – also in the city – reaches capacity
  • 1993 – Another Mahou brewery, 45km from Madrid in Alovera, comes online. Up until this point, the company had focused its attention on the centre of Spain
  • 2000 – Mahou acquires San Miguel in Spain. Groupe Danone, which previously had stakes in both Mahou and San Miguel, decides to exit the beer category, allowing Mahou to return to 100% family ownership
  • 2004 – Mahou San Miguel acquires Reina, a brand in the Canary Islands. MSM has been Spain’s beer market leader since 2005
  • 2007 – incorporates Cervezas Alhambra
  • 2011 – enters Spain’s soft drinks & water category through purchase of the Solán de Cabras range
  • 2012 – partners with Indian FMCG firm VI-John Group to set up Arian Breweries & Distilleries in the country. The JV has a brewery in Rajasthan
  • 2014 – buys out VI-John Group to take full control of its Indian division. Renames it Mahou India
  • 2015 – secures a 30% stake in US craft brewer Founders in Michigan

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