BRAND BOLINA®

BRAND BOLINA®

The Portuguese craft beer brand BOLINA® is a project that started about 12 years ago (2008) at the hands of a group of friends who shared a taste for craft beers. They started by buying small equipments that would allow them to start production at home and evolved technically in the following years. In 2012, the company MMCL – Cervejeiros, Lda. was created with a factory headquartered in Azambuja, a municipality that predisposed itself from the beginning to support the project. With their own capital, the small equipment of 20/50 liters became fermenters and vats with a capacity of 500 liters of beer and the small bags of malt and hops became large imported bags, with over 30 kilos of raw material. In early 2014, Azambuja witnessed the region’s first official craft beer production. It was the launch year of the Portuguese craft beer brand BOLINA® which initially featured three distinct styles of craft beer – Pilsner, Stout and Weiss – and very shortly thereafter, with the production of three distinct styles – Blonde Ale, IPA and Nelson Sauvin IPA. The brand BOLINA® believes that these are the styles that encompass the most consensual tastes and trends in the Portuguese market and, as a result, can ensure greater deployment in the market. Rapidly taking on the production of these six permanent styles, the BOLINA® brand also includes limited editions of seasonal beers and beers produced in partnership with other craft brands in its portfolio, which combine the knowledge and experience of their master brewers. Today, the permanent offer of the six styles remains but with a recently renewed image. The image of labels has become more irreverent and appealing, in the sense of distinguishing itself, when exposed, from all other brands that have emerged in the market. The styles came to have modern and disruptive names, which create greater impact on consumers, some of them, still referring to the maritime theme, as the examples of Pilsner “Rajada”, IPA “Atlantida” and Weiss “Lobo do Mar”. The company currently employs three employees, in addition to its partners, and has a capacity of approximately 100,000 liters per year. Initially, out of half a dozen craft brewers, BOLINA® is today one of over 150 existing craft beer brands in Portugal.