# Sri Lanka

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

- Official name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
- Local name: ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය
- Caps in the collection: 13 (https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country_caps/42)
- Brands: 8

## Beer in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankans drank toddy, the fermented sap of the coconut palm, and its distillate arrack long before the British brought beer. Brewing began in 1849, when Samuel Baker set up a small brewery at the hill station of Nuwara Eliya. Commercial brewing started there in 1881, when the Belgian brewer Auguste de Bavay and the planter Mountsteven Bremer set up the island's second brewery, the Ceylon Brewery Company. The Murree Brewery of India took it over in 1884; in 1893 a consortium led by the Irishman Lindsay White, the brewery's former transport agent, bought it, and in 1910 it became a limited company, The Ceylon Brewery Ltd.

Lion Ale, the first draught beer for the local market, came in 1954. A second brewery, McCallum, was founded at Meegoda near Colombo in 1963 by U. K. Edmund and made Three Coins lager and Sando Stout; at the 2003 Australian International Beer Awards its Irish Dark won silver and its lager bronze. The Ceylon Brewery was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 1991, when Carlsberg took 8%; the first Carlsberg was brewed locally in 1992 and Carson Cumberbatch took control in 1993. A 1996 cut in the beer excise made demand outrun supply, and in 1997 Mauritius Breweries (Phoenix Beverages), the A. P. Casie Chitty Company and the Hilary Company announced United Breweries and a Rs 550 million brewery at Mawathagama; its Kings Lager and Bison XXXtra reached the shops in 1998.

In 1996 the Lion Brewery (Ceylon) Ltd. was formed with Carlsberg holding 25%; in 1998 it opened a new brewery at Biyagama near Colombo (300,000 hl a year), and the old Nuwara Eliya plant stopped in 2001. In September 2005 Asia Pacific Breweries bought 60% of United Breweries, which became Asia Pacific Brewery (Lanka); Heineken took over Asia Pacific Breweries in 2012 and the Sri Lankan company became Heineken Lanka on 13 February 2017. In February 2011 Cargills bought McCallum's business and brands for Rs 1.425 billion through Millers Brewery, spent about Rs 2 billion on the Meegoda plant and began brewing Foster's under licence in 2013. On 30 October 2014 Lion bought Millers for Rs 5.15 billion, moved Three Coins, Sando Stout and Irish Dark to Biyagama, put the Meegoda brewing plant up for sale and kept the 23 acres of land.

Lion now brews Lion, Carlsberg (under licence) and, since 2021, Guinness at Biyagama, with a capacity of 2.0 million hl a year, and exports to about 17 countries. Wikipedia gives it 82% of the market; industry sources quoted by the Daily FT put it above 90% before the Millers deal. In December 2024 it opened an Innovation Brewery that makes small batches for bars and export markets: a wheat beer, Thambapanni Red Ale, Pure Ceylon Tea Beer and Coffee Stout were among eight new variants. No independent craft brewery is recorded outside the two big groups.

On 11 January 2024 the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka completed the purchase of 99.4% of Heineken Lanka for EUR 12 million and renamed it DCSL Breweries Lanka. It keeps brewing Heineken, Tiger and Anchor under licence beside its own Bison, launched DCSL Strong, Lager and Stout in January 2025 and began exporting Aliya beer in March 2026. Excise is the main pressure: duties have risen about 88% since 2023, and in the year to March 2026 Lion paid Rs 103.8 billion in taxes on revenue of Rs 132.4 billion, while local beer output grew 5% in 2025 (Daily Mirror, 13 July 2026).

Sources:
- [Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC: Annual Report 2024/25, key milestones](https://cdn.cse.lk/cmt/upload_report_file/485_1751536384397.pdf)
- [Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC: Annual Report 2014/15, the Millers Brewery acquisition](https://cdn.cse.lk/cmt/upload_report_file/485_1435663665772.pdf)
- [Wikipedia: Lion Brewery (Sri Lanka)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Brewery_(Sri_Lanka))
- [Wikipedia: Beer in Sri Lanka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_Sri_Lanka)
- [Wikipedia: Three Coins Beer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Coins_Beer)
- [Wikipedia: DCSL Breweries Lanka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCSL_Breweries_Lanka)
- [Wikipedia: Intoxicants in Sri Lanka (arrack)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intoxicants_in_Sri_Lanka)
- [Daily FT: Cargills Group says cheers with Rs. 1.4 b buy of Three Coins Beer (2011)](https://www.ft.lk/Front-Page/cargills-group-says-cheers-with-rs-1-4-b-buy-of-three-coins-beer/44-17794)
- [Daily FT: Lion, Three Coins cheer Rs. 5.15 b deal (2014)](https://www.ft.lk/article/365759/Lion--Three-Coins-cheer-Rs.-5.15-b-deal-)
- [Sunday Times: Cheers, three more beers here (1997)](http://www.sundaytimes.lk/970202/busm.html)
- [Sunday Times: Two new beers from United Breweries (1998)](http://www.sundaytimes.lk/980802/bus3.html)
- [Sunday Times: Three Coins wins international honours (2003)](https://www.sundaytimes.lk/030622/ft/news/23.html)
- [Sunday Times: APB officials fly to Colombo after buying into local brewery (2005)](http://www.sundaytimes.lk/051016/ft/20.html)
- [Daily FT: Asia Pacific Brewery (Lanka) changes name to Heineken Lanka (2017)](https://www.ft.lk/Dining/asia-pacific-brewery-lanka-changes-name-to-heineken-lanka/39-598377)
- [Daily FT: Distilleries buys Heineken's Lankan business for Rs. 4.2 b (2024)](https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Distilleries-buys-Heineken-s-Lankan-business-for-Rs-4-2-b/44-757293)
- [Daily FT: Aliya Beer expands to global markets (2026)](https://www.ft.lk/business/Aliya-Beer-expands-to-global-markets/34-789388)
- [Daily Mirror: Lion Brewery's Rs. 103.8bn tax bill exposes seven-year-old broken promise on alcohol tax reform (2026)](https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Lion-Brewerys-Rs-103-8bn-tax-bill-exposes-seven-year-old-broken-promise-on-alcohol-tax-reform/273-345455)
- [BeerAdvocate: Breweries in Sri Lanka (2026)](https://www.beeradvocate.com/place/list/?c_id=LK&s_id=0&brewery=Y)
- [Archontology: Sri Lanka, Polity Style 1948-2026](https://www.archontology.org/nations/sri_lanka/01_polity.php)
- [Wikipedia: Flag of Sri Lanka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Sri_Lanka)

## Breweries (4)

- [Asia Pacific Brewery Lanka Ltd.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/5055.md) — 2 caps, 1997–
- [McCallum Breweries (Ceylon) Ltd.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/2289.md) — 2 caps, 1963–2014, closed
- [The Ceylon Brewery Ltd.](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/3678.md) — 1 cap, 1881–1996
- [The Lion Brewery Ceylon PLC](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/219.md) — 8 caps, 1996–