Who owns BIRRA MESSINA BEER?

BIRRA MESSINA BEER is owned by

HEINEKEN N.V.

Website

Birra Messina was founded in 1923 in Messina, Italy by industrialist Francesco Paolo Lo Presti and engineer Francesco Faranda. The brewery cost 100,000 lire to build, and was financed by Filippo Chiofalo. It was originally known as Società Anonima Birra Trinacria before changing its name to Società Anonima Birra Messina in 1924. When Lo Presti, who had a majority stake in the business, died in the late 1940s, Faranda took over the company. He died in 1956, and the business turned into a joint stock company known as Nuova Birra Messina SpA.

The company soon expanded its production and reach, and Birra Messina became a nationally distributed brand by 1959. That year, it opened a new brewery in Palermo, which was followed by a third in Valverde in 1964. In 1966, the company acquired the Birra Aosta brand, based out of the city of the same name.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Birra Messina began to consolidate its production, closing its Palermo brewery in 1978 and then its Valverde brewery in 1986. The following year, the company went into a production agreement with Heineken to have its beer produced at the Dutch conglomerate’s Dreher brewery in Puglia. In 1988, Birra Messina was purchased by Heineken, and production became further centralized in their large brewing facilities. By 1999, brewing operations in Messina were reduced to a token amount for the Sicilian market. Heineken finally shut down operations at the historic brewery in 2007, and the following year it was purchased by the Faranda family. They briefly brewed the Triscele brand of beer in the space,but by 2014 that brand had become defunct. Today, Birra Messina is Heineken’s third biggest beer in Italy, after Birra Moretti and Dreher.

Popular Beers by this Brand

• Ricetta Classica
• Cristalli Di Sale

Like what we’re doing here? Donate to help keep the site alive!