Stella Artois is a combination of the household and exceptional reputation drink. The beer in upper regions has been considered a high-class import, booze bomb, and a pure pale lager. There are several unknown and hidden facts about Stella Artois that no one knows.
However, Stella Artois is also associated with some famous faces of Sarah Jessica Parker, Mindy Kaling, Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges due to a good cause.
Stella Artois was first brewed in the small city of Leuven, Belgium. And become the most famous and best-selling beer in no time in Belgium because of its rich taste. It’s also brewed worldwide, including in the U.K. and Australia.
Find out why Stella Arotis is up to and why it’s ridding itself of a highly offensive nickname. Here are 11 amazing facts about Stella Artois that you barely know.
Amazing Facts About Stella Artois
1) The Name Stella Artois has a Rich History Stella, the name of the beer is actually named after one of the owner’s wives! This wasn’t just some marketing tactic though. It was originally brewed to honor St. Livinus, the patron saint of brewers who lived in Leuven (The home of Stella Artois) between 1089-1136. Over time the brand dropped the Saint and it simply became known as Stella… but that isn’t surprising since Leuven people are still using “Stella” as slang for Star.
2) Stella’s Secret When first starting out, there were no machines available to easily produce quantities of beer so Brouwerij Artois (where Stella Artois was first brewed) contracted out to breweries in France that could produce larger quantities. This is because Brouwerij Artois’s own brewery was too small to handle the demand. This allowed for French breweries to start brewing and distributing Stella beer under license…until the German occupation of Belgium during World War 1!
During the occupation, all contracts between Brouwerij Artois and French brewers were terminated which forced them to brew their own beer. The first beer they produced at their own brewery was poorly received so they decided to try again with a different recipe, this time using something called “Malt Syrup.”
At first glance, you would think that Malt Syrup sounds like an acceptable name for a malt beverage, but when you look deeper you realize it’s actually just code for “malt extract syrup,” which is basically like unfermented beer. Although very few beers still use this process today, the brewers at Brouwerij Artois decided that was what Stella needed to be brewed and released. It turned out to be one of their most successful decisions!
3) A Bad Reputation: Once hailed as: “the champagne of Bottled Beers” by British consumers…a reputation that is now all but forgotten due to changing tastes towards cheap beers in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays people see any Champagne comparison as an insult.
4) There’s More Than One Place to Have a Stella Artois in Leuven! One of the things that make this town so special is how many different locations you can enjoy a glass of Stella. This includes:
- Brouwerij De Koninck where they produce their own version of Stella Artois -Het Anker which boasts over 200 years of history since 1873
- In De Vrede (The Peace) bar and restaurant that was once visited by Napoleon and later became the home to the Habsburg Monarchy during times when they had to flee from Belgium It’s believed that it was while staying here that Archduke Ludwig Salvator decided he wanted some decent beer while in exile, and this led to him becoming one of the first people to import Stella Artois into the U.S!
5) A Brand With a Sense of Humor: While the above might sound like it could be taken as nothing more than advertising and marketing hype, you’d be surprised at how many other places claim to have some sort of “royal” connection. For example: -The Blue Moon Brewing Company claims they were named after the blue moon that only appears once every 100 years (120 in dog years…just kidding).
-Guinness has been known to produce advertisements with monarchs such as Charles II and even Louis XIV who was known as Le Roi Soleil or The Sun King. There’s also a rumor floating around that King Arthur is the one who first discovered Guinness, and it was his men who first brewed the dark liquid. Of course, this one is extremely unlikely as Arthur lived roughly 500 years before Guinness first started brewing beer.
-The Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) claims to have been founded in 1795 by a patriot named Jim Koch whose great-great-grandfather supposedly smuggled some of the first batches of beer out during prohibition. And speaking of Stella Artois…
Interesting Facts About Stella Artois Solstice
6) The Beer with the Hidden Message: It’s true that sometimes companies put hidden messages on their product labels for fun or because they want them to be found later after learning about them somehow…such as how Richard Gere “found” a Buddhist prayer written on a pack of chewing gum while shooting Pretty Woman.
But what you might not know is that this also happens to be true of Stella Artois. On the backside of every selection, you will find a list of ingredients, but if you look carefully for little bubbles within those ingredients you should find a message…or possibly an apology from the brewer! So what does it say? We could show you but then we’d have to kill you.
7) The Brand’s Big Break: If there has been one beer responsible for bringing brand loyalty back into fashion in recent years, it might be Stella Artois according to some people. Ironically enough, this “break” started with a big break up as Stella was originally only sold at certain bars and pubs around London where it shine on tap. Its success was good enough that it even began to be sold at other locations like fish and chips shops.
8) The Beer That Has One of the Longest Names in the Industry: While this one isn’t completely true, there is some truth behind it. It’s believed to be called Stella Artois because Stel Artois was the original name for “star” in Dutch. During World War 1, German soldiers referred to British troops as Stahl which means steel instead of a star. Of course, the Brits didn’t take too kindly to this name change so they started referring to them as Stella or stars instead…and that’s how Stella Artois got its name!
9) A with a Secret Society: Maybe it’s because their ads give off a certain Illuminati vibe where the world is secretly run by a secret society, but some believe Stella Artois was once associated with a sort of “secret” organization that dates back to the year 1366. The reason for this connection? Well, it’s all thanks to one of its most famous slogans: “reassuringly expensive.” According to legend, this slogan supposedly first appeared on their label in 1817 which just so happens to be the same year that many historians mark as the beginning of the Bavarian Illuminati.
10) A Beer That Was Once Bootlegged: If you’re one who believes in aliens and ghosts then you might want to take note that nobody has proven how Stella Artois was first brewed. It’s not that nobody knows because the truth is we simply don’t know who was responsible for originally brewing it and when they did so. The sad part about all this is that nobody even knows how long Stella Artois has been around, which makes sense if you consider that its recipe probably came from someone who never wrote down their secret ingredient.
Things You Shouldn’t Know About Stella Artois
11) A Beer with a Rocky Start: No, we’re not talking about Artois Hills but rather one of the reasons why bar owners used to avoid selling Stella back in its early days. You see, during World War II and after, most brewers struggled to keep up with demand when soldiers were returning home and when they finally did; there weren’t many materials left to make the beer. But one brewer was determined to keep making it and that’s how Stella Artois survived all of this!
12) A Beer with a Noble Past: While most people might not realize it, Stella Artois actually belongs to a family of beers known as pilsner which is popular among drinkers who prefer their alcoholic beverages ice cold.
13) The Beer That Has One of the Oldest Labels in the Industry: Most brewers spend years putting together their labels but not so much when it comes to Stella Artois because they’ve had the same label since 1934. This was an era where other brands were regularly changing up their design but if you look at its current label you will notice that there’s hardly anything different about it since the beginning.
14) The Best Beer in its Category: Who can disagree with this? Stella Artois has managed to maintain its taste quality even during the worst of times so there’s no point in arguing against one of the most popular beers known to man.
15) A Beer That Has a Higher Alcohol Content than Most: Nowadays, most beer brewers have been able to maintain a steady alcohol content between 4-5 percent thanks to all sorts of new equipment and technology but try telling that to someone who used to drink Stella Artois back in 1934 when the beer had an ABV (alcohol by volume) of 7%. Of course, if you’re trying to compare it today then you’ll be disappointed because the Stella Artois of the 21 st century only has an ABV (alcohol by volume) of 5.2% which is still pretty high!
