# Colombia

Country page of DA Caps, a collection of beer bottle caps. Web page: https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country/co/info

- Official name: Republic of Colombia
- Local name: República de Colombia
- Caps in the collection: 123 (https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country_caps/176)
- Brands: 26

## Beer in Colombia

Beer came to Colombia with the Spanish: a Uniandes history says the first barley arrived in 1539, but long after that the everyday drink was chicha, the maize beer of the Andean peoples. The first recorded brewery of Bogotá was founded under Gran Colombia by a German named Mayer (one history dates it to 1826); the Englishman Cantrell took it over, and in 1834 the firm Martínez y Galinee bought it. Small breweries followed in Bogotá, Medellín, Ibagué and Bucaramanga, and a Danish immigrant brought European machinery for the first lager in 1887.

The modern industry began with Leo Kopp, a German trader whose firm Kopp y Castello was formed in Bogotá on 14 June 1879. Documents found in Socorro, from the late 1880s, show that the Kopps ran a brewery there, in a house on the main square, before the business moved to Bogotá. On 4 April 1889 the firm registered the purchase of a plot in Bogotá for a brewery, the date Bavaria counts as its founding. It became Bavaria Kopp's Deutsche Bierbrauerei in 1890, the brewery opened on 28 May 1891, and Pilsener Bier, Salvatore Bier, Bock Bier, Doppel-Stout and Lager went on sale on 1 June.

Bavaria then took in or outlasted its rivals. Cervecería Antioqueña of Medellín launched Pilsen in 1904, still sold today; La Pola, Bavaria's first popular beer, came in December 1911 for the centenary of independence, and Cervecería Barranquilla y Bolívar put Águila on the market in 1913. Costeña followed in Barranquilla in 1934. In 1930 Bavaria joined with the Cervecería Continental of Medellín, and from 1943 its shares were in Colombian hands. Law 34 of 28 October 1948 allowed fermented drinks only in individual sealed glass bottles from 1 January 1949, which in practice ended home-made chicha. In January 1973 Bavaria opened a new industrial complex on Avenida Boyacá and left its old site in the centre of Bogotá. In 1975 the Santo Domingo group, Bavaria's main shareholder, bought 75% of Cervecería Andina, founded in Bogotá in 1945 by the Puyana brothers and by then the second brewery of the country; its Bogotá plant later brewed Águila as Cervecería del Litoral until 1999.

The Ardila Lülle group, owner of Postobón, built a brewery at Tocancipá in 1996 for Leona, Cristal Oro, Perla and Cachorra, and sold it to Bavaria in 2004. In July 2005 the Santo Domingo family sold its 75% of Bavaria, which then held 99% of the Colombian beer market, to SABMiller in a deal worth USD 7.8 billion; AB InBev took over SABMiller in October 2016, and Bavaria is now part of it.

Craft beer is recent: the Cerveza de la Casa began at Guarne in 1992, and 3 Cordilleras opened in Medellín in 2008, selling only kegs at first. After a 2016 offer from Central Cervecera it joined that company's portfolio. Craft beer had 0.45% of the market in 2024 (0.32% in 2020). Central Cervecera, formed by Postobón and Chile's CCU (announced in November 2014), opened its Sesquilé plant (3 million hl, USD 400 million) in May 2019 and brews Andina there; in 2026 it holds about 7.2% of the market and on 28 August launched Mítica, a lager developed with 3 Cordilleras. Bavaria's brands include Águila, Poker, Club Colombia and Costeña, and in February 2026 its new Cervecería del Atlántico at Palmar de Varela, with about USD 500 million invested, was in its pre-operating phase.

Sources:
- [Semana: Bavaria celebra 120 anos de historia (2009)](https://www.semana.com/negocios/articulo/bavaria-celebra-120-anos-historia/76426/)
- [Vanguardia: La cerveceria de los alemanes Kopp y su huella en Santander (2013)](https://www.vanguardia.com/santander/region/2013/08/01/la-cerveceria-de-los-alemanes-kopp-y-su-huella-en-santander/)
- [Universidad Nacional de Colombia: Valoracion y conservacion de la arquitectura de ladrillo, estudio historico Cavas y Falcas (Bavaria factory, Bogota)](https://bffrepositorio.unal.edu.co/server/api/core/bitstreams/30d974a6-b20e-4a56-b5dc-0d46ed55a9c6/content)
- [Wikipedia: Bavaria Brewery (Colombia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria_Brewery_(Colombia))
- [Cuadernos de Administracion: Raices historicas de la industria colombiana (Rodriguez Sossa)](https://cuadernosdeadministracion.univalle.edu.co/index.php/cuadernos_de_administracion/article/download/280/351/984)
- [Uniandes ANEIA: Por que volver a la cerveza artesanal](https://aneia.uniandes.edu.co/por-que-volver-a-la-cerveza-artesanal)
- [Las2orillas: Los secretos que esconde la vieja fabrica de Bavaria en Bogota (the old Andina brewery)](https://www.las2orillas.co/?p=694942)
- [Simpson Thacher: Santo Domingo Group sells Bavaria to SABMiller in $7.8 billion transaction (2005)](https://www.stblaw.com/about-us/news/view/2005/07/21/santo-domingo-group-sells-bavaria-to-sabmiller-in-$7-8-billion-transaction)
- [Portafolio: Grupo Ardila Lulle y Heineken, llega mas cerveza al pais (2014)](https://www.portafolio.co/negocios/empresas/grupo-ardila-luelle-heineken-llega-cerveza-pais-46430)
- [Portafolio: Central Cervecera de Colombia inaugura su planta en Sesquile (2019)](https://www.portafolio.co/negocios/empresas/central-cervecera-de-colombia-inaugura-su-planta-en-sesquile-529168)
- [Valora Analitik: 3 Cordilleras, la historia de una cerveza artesanal](https://www.valoraanalitik.com/esta-es-la-historia-de-3-cordilleras-en-colombia/)
- [Valora Analitik: 3 Cordilleras anuncio expansion, perspectivas y crecimiento para 2026 (2025)](https://www.valoraanalitik.com/?p=528485)
- [Forbes Colombia: Bavaria anuncia nuevas inversiones y en 2026 enfoca su estrategia en el Mundial (2026)](https://forbes.co/negocios/bavaria-anuncia-nuevas-inversiones-y-en-2026-enfoca-su-estrategia-en-el-mundial-las-cervezas-cero-alcohol-y-bajas-en-calorias)
- [Portafolio: Central Cervecera de Colombia, productor de Andina, y su nueva cerveza premium Mitica (2026)](https://www.portafolio.co/negocios/industrias/central-cervecera-de-colombia-productor-de-andina-muerde-mas-cuota-de-mercado-llegando-al-7-501389)
- [Wikipedia: Viceroyalty of New Granada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroyalty_of_New_Granada)
- [Wikipedia: Gran Colombia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Colombia)
- [Wikipedia: Republic of New Granada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_New_Granada)
- [Wikipedia: Granadine Confederation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granadine_Confederation)
- [Wikipedia: United States of Colombia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Colombia)
- [Wikimedia Commons: Flag of New Granada (1834-1861)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_New_Granada.svg)

## Breweries (6)

- [3 Cordilleras](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/3419.md) — 1 cap, 2008–
- [Abadía Brewing Co.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/5496.md) — 1 cap, 2011–
- [Cerveceria Águila S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/778.md) — 32 caps, 1913–
- [Cerveceria Andina S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/5143.md) — 4 caps, 1945–
- [Cerveceria Bavaria S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/779.md) — 43 caps, 1889–
- [Grupo Bavaria S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/1558.md) — 42 caps