Reassuringly Expensive was the advertising slogan for Stella Artois in the United Kingdom from 1982 until 2007. The 1990s UK television advertising campaigns became known for their distinctive style of imitating European cinema and their leitmotif taken from the score of Jean de Florette , inspired, in turn, by Giuseppe Verdi 's La forza del destino . The TV campaigns began in 1991 with a series of adverts based on Jean de Florette , directed by the British duo Anthea Benton and Vaughan Arnell, moving on to other genres including war movies , silent comedy and even surrealism (for which the slogan was changed to "Reassuringly Elephants"). They have used notable movie directors such as Jonathan Glazer , and their aim was to portray the drink in a context of sophisticated European culture .
27-498: Stella Artois ( / ɑːr ˈ t w ɑː / ar- TWAH , French: [aʁtwɑ] ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven , Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV , the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries including the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia, where it has a reduced ABV. Stella Artois
54-528: A Christmas beer, named after the Christmas star . First sold in the winter season, it eventually became available year-round, with exports into the broad European market commencing in 1930, though it did not reach the entire market until 1964. Production was halted for a period when operations were suspended during World War II . By 1960, about 400 million litres (100 million US gallons) of Stella Artois were being produced annually. Whitbread secured
81-462: A chance viewing of Jean de Florette led one of Lowe's creative directors to pen a script based on a similar concept. The resulting television and cinema advertisement, Jacques de Florette , proved immensely popular and formed the basis for a series of six award-winning adverts produced between 1991 and 2001. Good Doctor was announced in February 2002 as the seventh in the series. During 2007,
108-681: A clear, golden beer. By 1853, the beer was available at 35 pubs in Prague . In 1856, it came to Vienna and in 1862 to Paris. In 1859, Pilsner Bier was registered as a brand name at the Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Plzeň. In 1898, the Pilsner Urquell trademark was created to put emphasis on being the original brewery ( Urquell, meaning 'original source'). Some beers are labeled Urtyp Pilsener (UP) meaning they are brewed according to
135-472: A licence to brew Stella Artois under contract in the United Kingdom in 1976. In 1988, Brouwerij Artois was a founding member in the merger creating Interbrew . That year, Taylorbrands founder David Taylor created a new package design, bottle design, and shape. The original 1926 bottle label inspired the design, which replaced a 1960s design. The design incorporates the horn symbol and the 1366 date of
162-469: A member of the Labour opposition party said that the company (then owned by Tim Allan , a former advisor to ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair ) was trying to remove references to Stella Artois from Misplaced Pages's "wife beater" disambiguation page and the phrase "wife beater" from this article. Stella Artois has been associated with film in the UK since 1994, organising events, sponsoring television, and hosting
189-494: A quart". In the 1980s and 1990s, the Stella Artois advertising slogan in the United Kingdom was " Reassuringly Expensive ". The UK television advertising campaigns became known for their distinctive style of imitating European cinema and their leitmotiv inspired by Giuseppe Verdi 's La forza del destino . The campaigns began with a series of advertisements based on the 1986 French film Jean de Florette , directed by
216-758: A website. Stella Artois has been or is a primary sponsor of the Cannes , Melbourne , and Sundance film festivals, the Independent Spirit Awards , the Dallas International Film Festival , and the Little Rock Film Festival . Stella Artois has broadcast several Super Bowl ads , as part of Anheuser–Busch InBev's overall ad buys during the game. The brand made its debut during Super Bowl XLV in 2011, in an ad starring Adrien Brody . The commercial
243-434: Is no longer used to remove trace amounts of yeast. At least since the early 21st century, Stella Artois has carried the nickname of the "wife beater" in the United Kingdom, due to a perceived connection between binge drinking involving the brand and domestic violence against women . In January 2012, the online activities of AB InBev lobbyists, Portland Communications , were exposed in the United Kingdom when Tom Watson ,
270-472: Is owned by Interbrew International B.V. which is a subsidiary of the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV . The Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven opened in 1366, when it was a tavern brewing its own beer for sale under the sign of a hunting horn. In 1708, Sébastien Artois became head brewer; then, in 1717, purchased the brewery, renaming it Brouwerij Artois. In 1926, Brouwerij Artois launched Stella as
297-525: The World Beer Cup . Pilsner style lagers are marketed internationally by numerous small brewers and larger conglomerates. Reassuringly Expensive The "Reassuringly Expensive" campaign began in 1982. Frank Lowe of Collett Dickinson Pearce worked on marketing for Stella Artois in the 1970s, creating print campaigns such as "My shout, he whispered". In 1981, Lowe left Collett Dickinson Pearce to form his own advertising agency, taking with him
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#1732793984842324-504: The cellars beneath their brewery. This changed in 1993 with the use of large cylindrical tanks. Small samples are still brewed in a traditional way for taste comparisons. A modern pale lager termed a pilsner may have a very light, clear colour from pale to golden yellow, with varying levels of hop aroma and flavour. The alcohol strength of beers termed pilsner vary but are typically around 4.5%–5% (by volume). There are categories such as "European-Style Pilsner" at beer competitions such as
351-537: The "reassuringly expensive" slogan was dropped, and the word "Stella" has been avoided in the advertisements. This has been seen as a reaction to the lager's perceived connection with aggression and binge-drinking in the United Kingdom, where it is nicknamed " wife beater ". Jacques de Florette was the first of the Reassuringly Expensive series. It was directed by Michael Seresin , the cinematographer on Bugsy Malone and Midnight Express , and
378-530: The British duo Anthea Benton and Vaughan Arnell, moving on to other genres, including war films , silent comedy and surrealism . They have used notable film directors such as Jonathan Glazer . Furthermore, the brand makes extensive use of the French language in its advertising campaigns, even though the beer brand originates from the monolingual Dutch-speaking city of Leuven . An example of this can be seen in
405-489: The Stella Artois account. Within a year, Lowe launched the "Reassuringly Expensive" campaign, which aimed to turn a substantial negative for the brand (higher prices due to greater Duty on high-alcohol content beverages in the United Kingdom) into a positive, assuring customers that by being more expensive, the premium lager was better than cheaper brands. Earlier pieces were primarily print campaigns, but in 1990,
432-504: The UK with advertisements featuring the slogan "Stella's for the fellas who take their lager strong". The images showed a Stella-monogrammed half-pint glass (due to its strength) – in one advertisement with a muscular 'glass arm' for a handle, in the other a glass sitting beside a torn-in-half telephone directory. This was the same creative unit which was involved, at the time, in Whitbread's launch of Trophy Bitter "The pint that thinks it's
459-747: The United Kingdom, as well as in other countries. Much of the beer exported from Europe is produced at InBev's brewery in Belgium, and packaged in the Beck's Brewery in Bremen, Germany . Stella Artois is also brewed for the Australian market by Lion . In the United States, Stella Artois is brewed and distributed by Anheuser-Busch at its various brewing facilities in the US, beginning in 2021 and before then it
486-652: The advertising campaign for Stella Artois Cidre, in which the tag-line "C'est cidre, not cider" is used, although this cider is produced in Zonhoven , which also lies in the Dutch-speaking Flemish Region . Stella Artois is advertised as containing "only 4 ingredients: hops, malted barley, maize and water". Yeast is also an ingredient used in the fermentation process, but almost all of it is removed before packaging. Since 2009, Stella Artois has been suitable for vegans , as isinglass (fish bladder)
513-497: The alcohol content of their beers for the UK market, from 4.8% to 4.6%. The original UK strength of Stella Artois was 5.2% and 4.8% from 2008 until 2020. According to Freddy Delvaux, former head of the in-house laboratory, the Belgian version was 33 IBU when he joined the lab in 1973, compared to just 20 IBU in 2014. Stella Artois is brewed in Belgium (in the plants at Leuven and Jupille ), at Samlesbury and Magor in
540-868: The beer's clarity and shelf-life . Part of this research benefited from the knowledge already expounded on in a book (printed in German in 1794, in Czech in 1799) written by Czech brewer František Ondřej Poupě (German: Franz Andreas Paupie ) (1753–1805) from Brno . The Plzeň brewery recruited the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll (1813–1887) who, using the local ingredients, produced the first batch of pale lager on 5 October 1842. The combination of Plzeň's remarkably soft water, local Saaz noble hops from nearby Žatec , low-protein Moravian barley malt prepared by indirectly heated kilning, and Bavarian -style lagering produced
567-424: The original Den Hoorn brewery. The label also shows medals for excellence awarded to Brouwerij Artois at a number of trade exhibitions in Belgium in the 19th and 20th centuries. The name Stella Artois is held within a cartouche which was influenced by the style of Belgian architecture in Leuven. In 1993, Interbrew moved production of Stella Artois into a new, fully automated brewery in Leuven. In 2004, Interbrew
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#1732793984842594-463: The original process, although many breweries use this accolade for their top beer. The introduction of modern refrigeration to Germany by Carl von Linde in the late 19th century eliminated the need for caves for beer storage, enabling the brewing and storing of cool fermenting beer in many new locations. Until 1993 the Pilsner Urquell brewery fermented its beer using open barrels in
621-496: Was granted brewing rights in 1307. Until the mid-1840s, most Bohemian beers were top- fermented . The Pilsner Urquell Brewery, originally called in German : Bürger-Brauerei Pilsen ( Czech : Měšťanský pivovar Plzeň , English: Plzeň Citizens' Brewery ), is where Pilsen beer was first brewed. Brewers had begun aging beer made with cool fermenting yeasts in caves ( lager , i.e., German : gelagert [stored]), which improved
648-518: Was heavily criticised in the Belgian media for giving the impression that the beer is French . Pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils ) is a type of pale lager . It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň ( German : Pilsen ), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell ) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewery . The city of Plzeň
675-614: Was imported. For the Hungarian market, Stella Artois is brewed in Bőcs , Hungary, by Borsod Brewery , under licence from InBev. For the Canadian market is brewed by Labatt Brewery in Ontario, Canada. Stella Artois is available on draught and in several packaged sizes. An unfiltered version was introduced to the United Kingdom market in 2022. Initially, brewers Whitbread launched Stella in
702-481: Was part of the merger creating InBev , and by 2006, total annual production volume of Stella Artois exceeded one billion litres. In 2008, InBev was part of the merger creating the Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) brewery company. That same year, a lower-alcohol version, Stella Artois 4%, was introduced in the UK market. In 2011, a cider , Stella Artois Cidre, was launched. In 2020, AB InBev reduced
729-736: Was shown in 1991. Good Doctor (also credited as Doctor or Plague ) is a television and cinema advertisement released in 2002 by Interbrew to promote its Stella Artois brand of lager within the United Kingdom . The 100-second spot, involving a doctor treating victims of cholera and being shunned by the villagers until a priest demands that he be given a Stella Artois, was produced by advertising agency Lowe Lintas & Partners in London . Good Doctor premiered on British television in January 2002, with later appearances in cinemas. It
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