Talk:Stella Artois

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I assumed Stella Artois is called "wifebeater" because of the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire", where the male lead character (Stanley Kowalski) repeatedly bellows his wife's name "STELLA!", and also beats her.

I always thought it was because it's such a popular, drinkable yet strong brand of beer, a drunk man beating his wife was likely to be under its influence. At best, I think we can agree that the origins of this moniker are obscure. I will add that domestic violence is a serious subject and my comments are not intended to make light of it. - Smallbone10

Contents

[edit] Invented history

"the Artois brewery was established in 1366" Spurious. One brewer buys out another, so that's a "history." This is no more historic than Budweiser. Anyone who knows anything about the history of beer can tell you: that was quite a different brew in 1326. You could just as well say some "Old Sumerian" beer brewed in southern Iraq is 4000 years old.... Now, as for the history of this modern marketing gambit: that's interesting! that's history! --Wetman 12:00, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

On the other hand: Wheat, barley and water change over time as well. if I brewed [specific beer recipe] in 1366 and 2007 using the same recipe, i could, hypothetically end up with 2 very different products.Tallrichard2 07:34, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wifebeater...

A possible explaination for the nickname "wifebeater" is that Stella Artois has a reputation as "loony juice"; that is, an alcoholic drink which induces violent drunken behaviour rather than making it's drinker tired and emotional in the usual style. White cider (and in fact cider in general), certain wines and other more low-brow super-strength lagers also have this trait; however, the fact Stella Artois is relatively expensive keeps it out of the price range of the underage drinkers and alcoholics which form the majority of the people who purchase the other types of loony juice. Stella Artois tends to be a more middle-class drink, consumed by social drinkers with jobs and families (i.e people who have wives to beat), who probably have never even seen a bottle of Diamond White or Heldenbrau since they were teenagers. Therefore, "wifebeater" is probably a middle-class nickname applied by people who associate Stella with marital violence. They would probably call white cider "wifebeater" if they actually lowered themselves to drinking it.

- Stella is not a 'Middle Class' drink. It is 6 cans for £5 in virtually every cornershop. It is the standard drink sold at squat parties and is sold in every pub I drink in. JD Weatherspoons (a very down market pub chain) sells bottles of it to all the chav youths in my local area. 62.3.70.68 18:42, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

To be honest, it's not a nickname I've ever heard in my part of the country (Merseyside if you're interested), although Stella does have something of a reputation around here as the casual cocaine user's choice of lager, probably because it provides an extra kick to the coke high whereas other lagers, like Carling, tend to take the edge off slightly. Most house parties involving copious cocaine use will often start off with several crates of Stella being consumed while the lines are out, and will move through spirits and finally onto Carling and other weaker lagers when the cocaine has run out and all that's left is weed and sledging.


As a Frenchman, used to seeing stella artois among the common brands of local beer, I must say that I never heard of this nickname before reading the article. I suspect it was made up especially for the film, and apparently, it took hold among English speakers with no brand awareness, but not here. The only beers I know that are commonly designated in derogatory fashion are kronenbourg and kanterbrau, which are commonly regarded as very low end brews. and I don't know about loony juice... as a 5.2% brew, it is quite average in strangth, not at all superstrong (those are often foreign, or at least used to be, I don't know if domestic brewers are competing for that part of the market)... as for cider, it has no such reputation either.. what is commonly available is often in the 2-3% alc range, and the real stuff is seldom stronger than 7%... nothing like good old Sidi Brahim wine. --Svartalf 14:15, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

I think Stella is usually associated with binge-drinking and tramps; certainly not middle-class drinking. It's a standard cheap beer that's sold pretty much everywhere. - Tomos ANTIGUA Tomos 14:09, 23 June 2007 (UTC)


What the flaming hell?!?! It's called "wife-beater" for the character in a A Streetcar named Desire that angry man called Stan who beats his wife Stella!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.242.145.112 (talk) 22:05, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More wifebeater

I cut this part out today:

Why this has been applied to Stella Artois and no other beer is unknown. Another possible etymology for the nickname may come from Marlon Brando's famous portrayal of "Stanley" from A Streetcar Named Desire, specifically one well-known scene where he is clad in a man's undershirt, yelling "Stella!", the name of his wife, as he begs her to return after he violently beat her. No source or citation is available for this etymology.

The "wifebeater" part is easily verifiable, but speculation isn't entirely appropriate for an encyclopedia. – ClockworkSoul 15:36, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Then you'd better go through pretty much every historical item in the encylopedia and apply similar limits there. IT is not being passed off as fact that cannot be verified. It is a likely explanation. Nach0king 18:28, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

I know many people that call Stella "wifebeater" in London. This is for one single reason = because it makes you more agressive and argumentative than any other lager on tap. It is well known for being a significant contributory factor in arguments between otherwise friendly people. 62.3.70.68 18:38, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

I see someone cut the "wife beater" thing not long ago. However, here's a recent news story: in The Daily Mail and in a local newspaper. I think these are reasonable sources, so if no one objects I will reinstate the "wife beater" thing. By the way, the Streetcar etymology is, in my opinion, just a coincidence.--217.44.171.210 (talk) 10:25, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning that the "Stella" name is associated with the "wifebeater" tag, and the recent marketing has focusses strongly on the "Artois" side? Somerandomnerd (talk) 14:38, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

It'd be synthesis to assume a connection, unless there's a source that discusses it. --McGeddon (talk) 15:04, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Reassuringly Expensive" slogan

I haven't been looking very hard, but I haven't seen this slogan in the US. Is it mainly in Europe? --alxndr 21:30, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

yup, they make a very big deal of it over here (UK) Pickle 13:18, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

It is a big part of their advertising here in the UK. Having said that, when I was in New York last summer, I saw a couple of billboards for Stella Artois with the slogan "Perfection has its Price", along the same lines there.

[edit] Belgium vs UK

Has anybody any suitable sources of information regarding apparent 'differences' between the version brewed in Belgium and the version brewed under licence in the UK? It is alleged that the UK version is, without ventruring into slanderous territory, somewhat 'different' than its Belgium based counterpart, possibly due to a difference in brewing techniques to speed up production and increase yield. Robbos

I have English friends who think Stella tastes of "hobo piss", and I don't think it's that bad at all. Sure, Jupiler is the superior lager, but Stella's not bad. (I'm Flemish, btw.) 134.58.253.131 16:03, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Location of Breweries

Stella is also brewed in Melbourne (Australia) by Carton and United Breweries. I assume it has some kind licenced from InBev...

[edit] Not Suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians

Stella Artois is made using an extract of fish swimbladder called isinglass to clarify the lager. Interbrew have confirmed this in the link I have posted.

"Consumer Helpline <Consumer.Helpline@inbev.co.uk>

Thank you for your email regarding brands suitable for vegetarians.

The animal product used is Isinglass (fish finings). This is a clarification agent made from certain fish. It assists clarification by attracting the yeast cells causing them to coagulate into larger particles which then separate from the beer, giving the beer a clean and clear appearance.

The brands we produce that are suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans are Hoegaarden, and Becks.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Once again thank you for contacting InBev UK Ltd.

Regards Barbara Consumer Services Advisor InBev UK Ltd Consumer Helpline: 0870 24 111 24"

62.3.70.68 18:46, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Mediation has resulted in idea of positive statements on vegan beer rather than negative statements on virtually every beer article. Thanks ;) Dr Wong 07:26, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

I personally can't see how mentioning it either way meets WP:NOT at all - its indiscriminate information. --Kiand 07:31, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] pron of Artois

can we gat an IPA pronunciation of Artois? Chris 05:09, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "table beer" characterized by its bottom fermented method?

This statement needs to be clarified. Almost all lagers are bottom fermented, including pilsners. Does "table beer" refer to lagers in general or just pilsners. Also, it seems a little unnecessary. Eric Van Bogaert 20:06, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Eiken

Under the see also section i've added Eiken Artois, which is a new oak aged lager set to replace the Bock variant of artois line, news can be seen here - http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=56134&linkedfrom=search&from=&to=&keywords=%C2%AEions=%C2%A4tpage=0

Souldriver x (talk) 21:30, 25 February 2008 (UTC)