Our Heritage

Heritage & Dynamism  Our story began more than a hundred years ago, when a farsighted businessman, Don Enrique Maria Barretto Y de Ycaza, obtained a Royal Grant from the Spanish government to manufacture beer in San Miguel district in the city of Manila. La Fabrica de Cerveza de San Miguel was established in 1890 to become the first brewery in South East Asia. San Miguel Beer was well received. Earning the title "The Pride of the Pacific", it won a gold medal in 1895 for product excellence in the regional food and beverage exposition, Exposicion Regional de Filipinas. This will be followed by numerous citations and acclaim from beer competitions around the world. This includes Gold Medals from the prestigious Monde Selection of Paris, excellence awards from exhibits in Brussels, London, and the USA. In 1890, the small brewery beside the the colonial mansion of the Spanish governor general produced 600 barrels of beer. After more than a hundred years of operation, our annual production capacities total more than 25 million hectoliters, placing San Miguel among the world's 20 largest brewers. Through the twist and turns of more than a hundred years, through revolution and war, this pioneer of a brewery has metamorphosed into San Miguel Corporation, the largest food, beverage, and packaging company in the Philippines and one of Asia's leading corporations.