Colmar

Colmar was the regional lager of the Brasserie de Colmar in Colmar, Alsace — one of five breweries that merged in 1969 to form L'Alsacienne de Brasserie (Albra), alongside Brasserie de l'Espérance, Brasserie Mutzig, Brasserie de la Perle and Brasserie Haag. In 1972 Heineken acquired Albra as its strategic entry into the French market — a takeover orchestrated personally by Freddy Heineken during his summer holiday on the Côte d'Antibes. The acquisition was astute: Albra was described as 'particularly cheap' given its market position, comprising 80% premium beers and being the largest exporter to France. Within months Heineken began rationalising the network, closing the Colmar brewery in January 1975. The closure provoked outrage — a furious editorial in the Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace accused Heineken of massacring Alsatian brewing heritage. Some Alsatians began calling Heineken 'Le Grand Méchant Loup' — The Big Bad Wolf. The Colmar beer was discontinued alongside the brewery closure, making it one of the earliest and most historically charged casualties of Heineken's French expansion.