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 FIVE
WOMEN
IN SEARCH OF
BLACK BEER
The search for XINGU Black Beer began in 1986 when Amazon, Inc. was
founded in Vermont by five women to prevent the extinction of some of
the world's rarest styles of beer. Dissatisfied with the bland offerings
from American brewers and with the imports not offering much diversion
from that, the company hired beer historian Alan Eames to research and
locate native prototypes of dark, rich beers from around the world.
The search began in Brazil where Eames insisted the best examples of
black beer could be found. The earliest Western account of black beer
brewed by the natives of the Amazon region dates to 1557. Many Amazon
Indian tribes placed great spiritual significance on black beer as a
beverage used in religious and social ceremonies. This primitive brewing
was done with dark roasted corn or manioc root, fermentation being initiated
by wild yeast.
Anne Latchis, President of Amazon, Inc. and Alan Eames traveled to Brazil
looking for a black beer to import that would represent a unique style
of beer from the two cultures of that country, the natives of the Amazon
rain forest and the descendants of the European colonial settlers. The
result of this effort is XINGU Black Beer.
The name XINGU (pronounced shin-goo') is a tributary of the Amazon River
which is home to the few surviving cultures and species of native Amazonian
life threatened by dam sites, over-development and exploitation. The
distinct diamond-shaped XINGU Black Beer label was painted by artist
Eric Green depicting a map of the XINGU River region, bordered by anacondas,
with a Txucahamei warrior and a caiman.
XINGU Black Beer is a black lager beer brewed from barley, hops, water
and yeast. The opaque blackness is a result of using a variety of black-roast
malts from South American grown barley.
XINGU Black Beer was first introduced to the American market in February
1988 in ceremonies held at the Culinary Institute of America. After
its debut in the Boston market, distribution quickly spread throughout
the U.S. At the time, it was brewed by Cervejarias Ca?ador in Santa
Catarina, Brasil.
In 2002 Cervejarias Kaiser Brasil, SA was licensed to produce Xingu
and market the brand throughout Brazil. The Kaiser brewery is known
for its high standards in the brewing industry and they successfully
brew Xingu beer with dependable quality and the same unique taste that
Xingu drinkers find so appealing.
In 2003 Anne Latchis joined the import team of Eurobrew Inc. who is
now the sole US importer of Xingu Black Beer and Palma Louca Pilsener.
Today, Eurobrew Inc. is pleased with the brisk, steady sales growth
of XINGU Black Beer and is now offering wider distribution throughout
the United States. See www.eurobrews.com
for a link to our US distributor network.
Brand Owner: Cervejaria Independente, Ltda. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Contact: a@amazonbeer.com
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