Imported beers that are actually made in the US
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This Japanese style beer isn't really brewed in Japan. (Anheuser-Busch InBev)
If you like those pricey imported beers, you might be shocked to learn that the brew you’re swigging could actually made right here in the good ole U. S. of A.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns the Kirin Ichiban beer, Corona and the ever-popular Budweiser family of brews, recently settled a 2013 class action lawsuit that charged the beer giant of falsely “packaging, marketing and advertising of Kirin beer” to “deceive consumers into believing they are purchasing a product made in Japan.”
Kirin, marketed as a “Japanese style pilsner,” is brewed in the Los Angeles area and hasn't been made with any Japanese ingredients or hasn't been brewed anywhere near Japan since Anheuser-Busch purchased the company in 1996.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Anheuser-Busch stated that its advertising was “truthful,” yet the company agreed to refund consumers.
If you’ve purchased—and likely overpaid—for this beer from October 25, 2009 and December 17, 2014, you may be entitled to 10 cents per can or bottle purchased, 50 cents per six-pack and a whole dollar for a 12-pack. But the limit per household is $50.
So what other “imported” beers are actually domestic brews masquerading under an exotic guise?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(Diageo-Guinnness U.S.A.)
Beck’s, though founded in Germany, is now produced in 15 different markets including the U.S. so if you’re buying it here it was likely made here, according to Time. Foster’s “Australian for beer” is brewed in Texas. MillerCoors’ Killian’s Irish Red, which is not branded as an import but with the trendier “craft” label, has been brewed in Colorado since the 1980s.
And Red Stripe, which was previously a signature of Jamaican culture, has been brewed in U.S. since 2012 after Diageo-Guinness purchased the brand and relocated production.