# Peru

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

- Official name: Republic of Peru
- Local name: República del Perú
- Caps in the collection: 64 (https://dacaps.imcoll.com/country_caps/103)
- Brands: 30

## Beer in Peru

Beer in Peru is older than the Spanish. At Cerro Baúl in the south, archaeologists found a brewery of the Wari empire (600-1100 AD) where chicha, a light sour beer of pepper berries or maize, was brewed in large vats for feasts. Barley beer came with the republic: imports, above all from Britain, and German brewers in Lima and Callao. On 1 March 1852 a young German advertised in El Comercio as a man who "knew how to make beer", the city directory of 1864 lists eight beer makers, and by 1876 there were three breweries in Callao and one in Lima.

The oldest name is Pilsen Callao. A brewery in Callao, dated to 15 October 1863 and linked to the German Federico Bindels, passed in 1869 to the Alsatian Alois Kieffer; its beer won prizes in Lima in 1872 and 1876 and in Paris in 1878, and in 1902 it was sold to Peruvian and Italian investors and became the Compañía Nacional de Cerveza. In Lima the Americans Jacob Backus and Howard Johnston, who had come for the railway to Huancayo, opened an ice factory in the Rímac in 1876 and began to brew in 1879-1880; a British company was formed in London in 1889, Cristal was launched in 1922, and in 1954 Peruvian investors led by Ricardo Bentín Mujica moved the head office from London to Lima. In the south Ernesto Günther opened the Cervecería Alemana in Arequipa on 31 August 1898 and a brewery in Cusco in 1908; from them came Cervesur, the maker of Arequipeña and Cusqueña.

Backus grew by absorbing its rivals. It opened Cervecería San Juan in Pucallpa and Cervecería del Norte in Lambayeque in 1971 and the Ate plant in 1993. In 1994, after a spoiled batch hit its sales, the Compañía Nacional de Cerveza sold 62 per cent to Backus; in 1996 four companies merged into Unión de Cervecerías Peruanas Backus y Johnston, and in March 2000 Backus bought Cervesur for 164 million US dollars, after Cusqueña had won a third of the Lima market in November 1996. Bavaria of Colombia became the main shareholder in 2002, SABMiller took Bavaria in 2005, and since 2016 Backus has belonged to AB InBev. Challengers came and went: Brazil's AmBev announced a brewery of one million hectolitres at Huachipa in 2003, sold Brahma from 2004 or 2005, sold the plant to the Pepsi bottler cbc in 2018 and withdrew Brahma in 2021, while Ajegroup, the Kola Real company, built a 250,000-hectolitre brewery in Huachipa and launched Franca on 1 September 2007 at a 20 per cent discount.

Craft brewing is small. Forbes Perú dates the first craft brewery, Mamut, to 1997. Cervecería del Valle opened in the Sacred Valley in 2007, Barbarian grew out of a hobby of three school friends in 2009 and moved to a bigger plant in Huachipa in 2013, and Sierra Andina began in Huaraz in 2011; ZX Ventures of AB InBev bought Barbarian in August 2019. In 2021 there were said to be about 600 craft brands, up from 350 before the pandemic, yet craft beer was still under 0.5 per cent of the market, and about 0.25 per cent in 2025.

Backus has five brewing plants, in Lima (Ate), Arequipa, Cusco, Motupe and Pucallpa, and makes Cristal, Pilsen Callao, Cusqueña, Arequipeña and San Juan. In 2025 it launched Cusqueña Cero and, in October, Flying Fish, the first flavoured beer in Peru; by early November it had closed the sale of its San Mateo water brand to focus on beer, and expected beer volumes to grow after two flat years. In May 2026 the craft brewery 7 Vidas of Tacna won two bronze medals at the World Beer Cup, a record for a Latin American brewery.

Sources:
- [Bierdeckelsammler (Eduardo Dargent): German beer in Peru](https://bierdeckelsammler.net/en/misc/peru)
- [Field Museum: Archaeologists recreate ancient brewing techniques (2019)](https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/press/secret-stable-society-steady-supply-beer-doesnt-hurt)
- [Wikipedia: Backus and Johnston Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backus_and_Johnston_Brewery)
- [Peru Retail: Backus, from an ice factory to the largest brewing group in Peru (2023)](https://www.peru-retail.com/backus-de-una-fabrica-de-hielo-a-convertirse-en-el-grupo-cervecero-mas-grande-del-peru/)
- [Infomercado: How Pilsen Callao was born (2022)](https://infomercado.pe/como-nacio-pilsen-callao-la-cerveza-mas-antigua-del-peru-241022-gb)
- [Gestion: Cusquena in Chile, the United States and the United Kingdom (history of the brand)](https://gestion.pe/economia/empresas/chile-estados-unidos-y-reino-unido-los-paises-que-tienen-en-comun-a-cerveza-cusquena-backus-ab-inbev-bebidas-alcoholicas-cervesur-exportacion-noticia/)
- [Gestion: Backus, an empire after two wars (2025)](https://gestion.pe/g-de-gestion/reportaje/backus-un-imperio-cervecero-tras-dos-guerras-contra-pilsen-cusquena-brahma-y-sab-miller-noticia/)
- [Gestion: Brahma in Peru (2025)](https://gestion.pe/g-de-gestion/reportaje/brahma-en-peru-la-cerveza-brasilena-que-no-pudo-superar-a-backus-ni-conquistar-a-los-consumidores-noticia/)
- [Peru Retail: cbc buys the Ambev plant in Huachipa (2018)](https://www.peru-retail.com/operador-pepsico-bebidas-peru-compra-fabrica-ambev-huachipa/)
- [Brauwelt: Softdrink company Ajegroup builds its first brewery (2007)](https://brauwelt.com/en/international-report/the-americas/625877-softdrink-company-ajegroup-builds-its-first-brewery)
- [Brauwelt: Ajegroup launches its first beer (2007)](https://brauwelt.com/en/international-report/the-americas/626419-ajegroup-launches-its-first-beer)
- [Taste of Peru: Peruvian craft beers revolution (2019)](https://taste-of-peru.com/peruvian-craft-beers-revolution/)
- [Inside.beer: AB InBev buys craft brewer Barbarian (2019)](https://www.inside.beer/news/detail/peru-ab-inbev-buys-craft-brewer-barbarian)
- [Gestion: About 600 craft beer brands, but only 10 per cent positioned (2021)](https://gestion.pe/economia/empresas/hay-cerca-de-600-marcas-de-cerveza-artesanal-pero-solo-el-10-de-ellas-posicionadas-noticia/)
- [Forbes Peru: 7 Vidas, the most awarded craft beer of the region (2025)](https://forbes.pe/negocios/2025-11-11/esta-cerveza-artesanal-peruana-es-la-mas-premiada-de-la-region-la-empresa-que-la-produce-planea-abrir-10-taprooms-en-tres-anos)
- [Gestion: Backus after the sale of San Mateo (2025)](https://gestion.pe/g-de-gestion/backus-anuncia-lanzamientos-en-cervezas-tras-la-venta-de-agua-san-mateo-noticia/)
- [Diario Correo: 7 Vidas record at the World Beer Cup 2026](https://diariocorreo.pe/gastronomia/cerveza-7-vidas-logra-record-en-la-world-beer-cup-2026-noticia/)
- [Archontology: Peru, Polity Style 1821-2026](https://www.archontology.org/nations/peru/01_1821_td_polity.php)
- [Wikipedia: Flag of Peru](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Peru)
- [Wikipedia: Viceroyalty of Peru](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroyalty_of_Peru)

## Breweries (17)

- [Cerveza 7 Vidas](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5065.md) — 2 caps, 2016–
- [Ajeper S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1559.md) — 3 caps, 1988–
- [AmBev Peru](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/2211.md) — 1 cap, 2005–
- [Cerveceria Backus y Johnston S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1722.md) — 15 caps, 1879–
- [Cerveceria Barbarian](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/4074.md) — 5 caps, 2012–
- [Cevesur-Cervecería Cusco S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/730.md) — 20 caps, 1908–
- [Cerveza Artesanal Cumbres](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5850.md) — 2 caps, 2010–
- [Cerveceria Dorada Arequipa S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1898.md) — 1 cap, 1898–
- [Dörcher Bier](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5859.md) — 1 cap, 2009–
- [Grupo AJE](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/2352.md) — 1 cap, 1988–
- [Cerveza Artesanal Imperio](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5851.md) — 1 cap
- [Cerveceria Maddok](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5878.md) — 1 cap
- [Compania Nacional de Cerveza S.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1915.md) — 5 caps, 1863–1996, closed
- [Cerveceria Peruana Backus](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/3249.md) — 2 caps, 1879–
- [Cerveza Tankish](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5848.md) — 1 cap
- [Unión de Cervecerías Peruanas Backus y Johnston](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5906.md) — 3 caps, 1879–
- [Vicuna S.A.C.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5890.md) — 3 caps