Simplon Beer was born on the shores of Lake Maggiore in 1854. It is the story of a beer that has spanned the years and that is nourished by history, passion and bond with the territory and with the best raw materials.

In its blends you can taste all the tradition and craftsmanship of the past, combined with the quality and technology of today.

The beers are made with aromas and tastes, where the basic prerogative was the search for malt, hops, wheat and yeast with characteristics of excellence in the territories that once supplied the breweries of Lake Maggiore.

In 1854 the Locarno National Brewery was born (from the name of the place where it was built). Although it was born in the Canton of Ticino in Switzerland, it soon became Italian and, unlike the dozens of very short-lived breweries born between 1800 and 1900, it had a centennial life. The first part of the business ceased in 1974 with the drastic decline in beer consumption.
The Beretta family, founders of the company, were also called to contribute to the foundation of the Sardinian Ichnusa beer, due to their well-known knowledge of the techniques of the time.

In 1920 an old convent in Verbania Pallanza was bought, on the Piedmontese side of Lake Maggiore, transforming it into a brewery. Thus was born on October 4, 1921 the “Joint Stock Company Birra Sempione”.
In 1923 the importation of beer from the Canton of Ticino was stopped and only production continued in the new Italian plant. In the meantime, the brewery changed its name several times, first to “Birra Nazionale” and then to “Birra Pallanza” and “Birra Sempione“.

Starting from the mid-1950’s, the economic “boom” led the brewery to a surge in orders over 20,000 hectoliters a year.
In the 1960’s, numerous commercial agreements led in a few years to a dizzying increase in the production of Simplon Beer which was positioned among the best-selling in Italy.