What we set out to check
Mahou Cinco Estrellas is a Spanish brand, made by Mahou San Miguel of Madrid, sold in Britain since 2021 by Budweiser Brewing Group, which is AB InBev's British business. The question is the ordinary one: is the beer in a British can brewed in Madrid and shipped, or brewed here under licence?
It started with an observation in a shop. An outer multipack said one thing; the cans inside it said another. That is exactly the kind of report that is easy to dismiss and worth checking, so it was checked against every retailer listing that could be read.
What the listings say
The pack copy recorded for this beer, verbatim:
The two Morrisons can listings describe two different packs. Morrisons 10x440ml fridge pack: 'Country of Origin: United Kingdom' and 'Brewed by: AB InBev UK Limited, EC4A 1EN. Mahou S.A. InBev Belgium, Bd Industriel 21, B-1070 Brussels, Belgium.' Morrisons 4x440ml: 'Country Of Origin: Spain' and 'Brewed by: Mahou S.A. Calle Titan, 15 Madrid, Spain. and Canned by: AB InBev UK Limited, EC4A 1EN.' Sainsbury's 4x440ml: 'Spain (Packed in United Kingdom)'. Waitrose cans: country of origin Spain, brewed by Mahou S.A., canned by AB InBev UK Limited. Ocado 4x330ml bottles: 'Spain', 'Mahou S.A., C/ Titan no 15, Madrid, Spain', 5.1%.
UK label and listing text as recorded on 9 September 2026
Read that carefully. Within Morrisons alone, the ten-can fridge pack gives country of origin United Kingdom and names AB InBev UK as the brewer. The four-can pack of the same beer gives country of origin Spain, names Mahou in Madrid as the brewer, and says AB InBev UK merely canned it. Sainsbury's offers a third answer, "Spain (Packed in United Kingdom)". Waitrose agrees with the Spanish reading. Ocado's imported bottles are Spanish and a different strength again.
The number that does not fit
The strength is the most useful evidence on the page. The British cans are 4.8% at every retailer checked. Spanish retail listings give 5.5% for Mahou Cinco Estrellas, while Mahou's own English-language page gives 5.1%, and Ocado's imported bottles show 5.1% too.
So the British can is 0.7 percentage points below the Spanish figure this site stores, and at least 0.3 points below the lowest Spanish figure anyone publishes. A beer brewed in Madrid and shipped to Britain would normally arrive at the Spanish strength. A different strength is consistent with a separately brewed British product, which points towards the fridge pack's reading rather than the four-pack's.
Consistent with is not the same as proven, and the strength alone could not settle it. The listings did, once each one was read against the pack size it described.
What is settled and what is not
Splitting the two is the useful part. Settled, from the listings:
- The British can strength of 4.8%, at four separate retailers.
- That Budweiser Brewing Group took over British sales, marketing and distribution from July 2021.
- That the two readings are two different packs, not one pack described two ways. The 10 x 440ml fridge pack is brewed in Britain by AB InBev UK. The 4 x 440ml can is brewed in Madrid and canned in Britain. The bottles are brewed and bottled in Madrid. Morrisons listed both can packs on 6 September 2026 and both were still live on 9 September.
Not settled:
- Which AB InBev UK site brews the 10 x 440ml can. The pack names the company, not the brewery, and the company has two plants, Magor and Samlesbury, so the site is recorded as inferred.
- The Spanish comparator, which is itself given as 5.1% or 5.5% depending on the source.
The row therefore records the supply as mixed, split by pack, and shows the disagreement on the beer's page as history.
Why not just pick the likelier one
Because the strength argument is an inference, and an inference dressed as a fact is how reference sites become unreliable. The strength argument is good. It is not a producer address, and a producer address exists: it is printed on the base of every can in the country.
The rule this site works to is that a value moves to a new answer only on evidence, and moves back to "not established" freely. Mahou is the clearest case of why that asymmetry matters. Guessing right and guessing wrong look identical to a reader.
What would settle what is left
The one open question is which British site brews the fridge pack. Any one of these would answer it:
- A photograph of the base and side panel of a current 440ml can, showing the producer name and address.
- The same for the outer multipack it came in, so the two can be compared directly.
- The best-before date, which dates the stock.
- Failing that, a statement from Budweiser Brewing Group naming the brewing site and the date any switch happened.
Any one of the first three would settle it within a day. It is a good example of how little it takes: not an investigation, just somebody turning a can upside down in their kitchen.
The listings, as read
- Morrisons (groceries.morrisons.com) , 6 September 2026 : Mahou Lager Beer Cans 10 x 440ml, re-read 2026-09-06: 4.8; Country of Origin United Kingdom; 'Brewed by: AB InBev UK Limited, EC4A 1EN. Mahou S.A. InBev Belgium, Bd Industriel 21, B-1070 Brussels, Belgium.'
- Morrisons (groceries.morrisons.com) , 6 September 2026 : Mahou Beer Cans 4 x 440ml, re-read 2026-09-06: 4.8; Country Of Origin Spain; 'Brewed by: Mahou S.A. Calle Titán, 15 Madrid, Spain. and Canned by: AB InBev UK Limited, EC4A 1EN.'; country of packaging United Kingdom.
- Sainsbury's (sainsburys.co.uk) , 5 September 2026 : 4x440ml cans: 4.8% ABV; country of origin 'Spain (Packed in United Kingdom)'; 'Brewed by: Mahou S.A. Calle Titan, 15 Madrid, Spain. and Canned by: AB InBev UK Limited, EC4A 1EN.'
- Waitrose (waitrose.com) , 5 September 2026 : cans: 4.8% ABV; country of origin Spain; brewed by Mahou S.A., Calle Titan 15, Madrid; canned by AB InBev UK Limited
- Ocado (ocado.com) , 5 September 2026 : 4x330ml bottles: country of origin Spain; 'Mahou S.A., C/ Titan no 15, Madrid, Spain'; 5.1% ABV, i.e. the imported bottle is a different and stronger product from the 4.8% UK cans
- Ocado (ocado.com)
- Morrisons (groceries.morrisons.com) , 6 September 2026 : Mahou 4 x 330ml bottles: 5.1%; country of origin Spain; Mahou S.A., C/ Titan 15, Madrid; importer AB InBev UK Limited.
- Morrisons (groceries.morrisons.com) , 6 September 2026 : Mahou Beer Bottles 12 x 330ml: 5.1%; country of origin Spain; 'Brewed and bottled by: Mahou S.A., C/ Titan 15, Madrid, Spain.'; importer AB InBev UK Limited.
The general version of this problem, and what the different phrases on a pack mean, is in how to read the small print on a can.