Antarctica

Antarctica's roots lie in the small brewery that Louis Bücher, the son of a family of German brewers, opened in São Paulo in 1868. In 1882 he went into partnership with Joaquim Salles, owner of the Antarctica slaughterhouse near Água Branca, whose ice machine made brewing possible there. In 1888 the partners founded Antarctica Paulista – Ice Factory and Brewery; hence the name and the penguins on the label, both nods to the frozen continent. Ambev, the brand's current owner, dates Antarctica's origin to 1885.

The first advertisement ran in 1889 in the newspaper A Província de São Paulo, today O Estado de S. Paulo. In 1891 the business became Companhia Antarctica Paulista, a joint-stock company with more than 50 shareholders, among them João Carlos Antonio Zerrenner and Adam Ditrik von Bülow, coffee exporters who brought in modern German equipment. In 1904 it bought its competitor Bavaria and began brewing in the Mooca district, where it kept its headquarters. The company created Parque Antarctica, sold in 1921 to Palestra Itália, now Palmeiras, and that same year launched Guaraná Antarctica. Later came the purchase of Bohemia in 1961 and of the Manaus and Polar breweries in 1972. In 1999 Antarctica joined its arch-rival Brahma to form Ambev.