Who owns ESTRELLA DAMM BEER?

ESTRELLA DAMM BEER is owned by

CARLSBERG GROUP

for some United Kingdom customers

Not to be confused with Estrella Jalisco, Estrella Galicia

First Brewed

1876

Origin

Spain, Europe

Website

Estrella Damm was founded in 1876 in Barcelona, Spain by August Kuentzmann Damm and Joseph Damm. The two were cousins from Alsace who were fleeing the Franco-Prussian War, and originally named the brewery Antiga Fàbrica Damm, using the symbol of a star as its trademark. They incorporated with two other breweries in 1910, and in 1921, they renamed their flagship beer Estrella Dorada (“Golden Star”). Damm began to gain share by purchasing their main competitors, first with Compañía Internacional de Cervezas S.A. in 1972 and later with Cerveceras Asociadas, S.A. in 1987.

In 1991, the company renamed Dorada to Estrella Damm, in time for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Damm expanded again in 2001, when Heineken purchased major Spanish brewer Cruzcampo. The Spanish Competition Court ruled that for the sale to go through, Heineken would have to sell of some of its assets, including Estrella de Levante, based in Murcia, and Victoria Malaga, based in Malaga.

In 2010, they announced a deal with Carlsberg Group to begin producing and marketing Damm in the United Kingdom. The deal was reciprocated in 2020, when Damm licensed the rights to produce Carlsberg in Spain. However in 2022, Damm purchased the brewery in England from Carlsberg that produced Damm. As part of the deal, Damm would began to sell its own beer to major suppliers in the UK, while Carlsberg would continue to sell the beer for independent and wholesale accounts. All of the brewery’s employees were transferred to Damm as part of the deal.

33% of S.A. Damm is now owned by DISA, a petrochemical corporation based out of the Canary Islands. Dr. Oetker, a german consumer goods company, owns 25% of the company.