Welcome to the webpage of Szot Microbrewery. We are a family-owned, small, craft-brewery located about half-an-hour from Santiago, Chile.

SZOT supposedly means "Scotch" (as in from Scotland) in the Polish language. It is not an invention of our marketing department, but the last name of one of the owners, Kevin Szot.

Kevin was originally from a small rural suburb-type town in California. From there he witnessed the beginnings of the US craft brew industry back in the 1980´s. But his ambition was international - he studied in Brasil, worked with a large multinational bank in New York City, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Miami and Puerto Rico before settling down in a small rural suburb-type town outside Santiago, Chile.

While working in Santiago at the end of the 1980´s, Kevin was amazed that there was only one brewery - CCU and even more amazed that all Chileans patriotically defended their beer - "Cristal". This was a very politically dividing moment for Chile, since the military government was holding a plebescite to try to continue in power, with the country very divided on the issue. However both the folks on the right and left of the political spectrum agreed, Cristal was a great beer! That was the moment when the desire to make real beer in Chile started, but it would't be for another 15 years before the brewery project would begin.

As frequently happens with "gringos" in Chile, Kevin married a "chilena", Karin. They lived happily in their rural house until Kevin was offered work in Miami. So they left Chile for about 10 years, returning once or twice a year to visit family. Kevin kept looking into the local beer scene, amazed that nothing was happening in spite of the advances in wine and gourmet foods. However the beer industry was under tight wraps with exclusivity contracts between the large brewery and most establishments that eliminated any possiblity of other breweries getting a foot-hold or even having any presence. There were several small breweries, but no craftbeer presence in restaurants or the supermarket shelves.

It wasn't until 2006 or so that a microbrewery movement started - we weren't the only ones who saw beer potential in Chile's growing gourmet market, several other microbreweries also started around then. Also many Chilean's had by then travelled or lived overseas and were more interested in finding better beer. A common "gringo" complaint in Chile was that it was a "Nice country, but the beer sucks"... We were surprised when we heard Chileans echoing that same sentiment, solidifying our plan to launch a Chilean brewery.

We have the boutique focus and only distribute bottled beer since the Chilean market is still a monopoly, or perhaps a duopoly. Approximately 85% of the market is in the hands of CCU (owned by a wealthy Chilean family, Heineken and ADR's) and an AMBEV subisidiary has another 13-14% of the market. Imports and craft beer are just begining to make their presence known, but market presence is still minimal. Draft beer in Chile requires a substantial investment, since the dispensing equipment is provided to bars and restaurants by the breweries (that would be illegal in the USA). Here it is not just an issue of rotating barrels of beer, but of financing the equipment, maintaining it, and cleaning it...

We are now brewing several beer styles and are innovating with a tourist beer destination location at our brewery located about 30 minutes from Santiago. Our beers have won numerous awards in International beer competitions and have been continuously considered among the best in Chile by the gourmet press.

If you are in Chile you can find our beers in supermarkets and in more and more restaurants and pubs. Our local distributor is Concha y Toro through their Comercial Peumo subsidiary.

We are also open for visitors on Saturdays, but call or mail beforehand, since if we have a big fair or event, we may not open that day.

Kevin y Astrid Karin 

Cellular 569-9-436-9493   (movistar)
ventas@szot.cl  

FACEBOOK: Szot Microbrewery

Szot Microbrewery, Santiago de Chile 2011 - All Rights Reserved-Todos los derechos reservados.