China to get a taste of Tennent’s lagers, including a gluten-free brew
Four beers from Scotland’s biggest brewery, though not its bestselling Tennent’s Lager, to join crowded Chinese market, where it could give Stella Artois some competition, one expert says
Chinese drinkers will soon get a taste of Scottish lager, with the announcement of plans to import beers produced by Glasgow brewer Tennent’s – maker of “Scotland’s favourite pint”, Tennent’s Lager.
The Tennent’s name may be new to China, but in Britain it has a chequered past. Whether fairly or not, it is strongly linked to a stereotype of Glaswegians as hard-drinking brawlers with impenetrable accents. That image is particularly associated with Tennent’s Super, which has a 9 per cent alcohol content. Perhaps fortunately, that beer is not being exported to China. When C&C Group bought Tennent’s in 2009, the deal excluded Tennent’s Super.
C&C Group will be exporting four beers to China: Tennent’s 1885 Lager (gluten free), Tennent’s Stout, Tennent’s Whisky Oak Aged Beer and Tennent’s Scotch Ale, which also has a 9 per cent alcohol content.
“Tennent’s beers are perfectly OK lagers – in fact when the current owners acquired the company they deliberately didn’t buy the very strongest ‘tramp juice’ one, as they didn’t want to be associated with that image,” says Martyn Cornell, an award-winning author and blogger on beer.
