Region & History

Which beer comes from Jamaica? Almost always Red Stripe, brewed in Kingston. Yet for a long time the colony's drink was rum. Since the English conquest of 1655, the island had belonged to the British Empire, and on the sugar plantations rum began to be distilled in the 17th century from molasses, the dark syrup left over from boiling sugar. The work in the fields was done by enslaved people from Africa; slavery in the Empire was abolished in the 1830s.

The brewery came late. In 1918, Eugene Peter Desnoes and Thomas Hargreaves Geddes merged their two businesses in Kingston into Desnoes & Geddes. At first the company made soft drinks and traded in imported alcoholic beverages; later came the Surrey Brewery in the city.

The first Red Stripe was brewed in 1928, initially as an ale, meaning a top-fermented beer. According to existing accounts, it proved too heavy for Jamaicans. The lager version that later defined the brand was developed in 1938 by Paul H. Geddes, a son of the company founder, and Bill Martindale. According to the company, Dragon Stout came onto the market in 1920 and was relaunched in 1961.

In 1958 production moved from downtown to Spanish Town Road, where the plant could expand. On 6 August 1962, Jamaica became independent. In 1971, Red Stripe got its short, round bottle, known as the Stubby.

Ownership changed over the years. In 1993, Guinness Brewing Worldwide, now Diageo, acquired 51 percent of Desnoes & Geddes. In 2015, Heineken took over Diageo's stake and announced an offer for the remaining shares. Red Stripe is thus a brand owned by a corporation; it does not carry a protected designation of origin like Kölsch.