Navigation

If it contains Swiss water, it should be Swiss beer

A variety of beers produced by breweries in Switzerland believe they deserve the label "Made in Switzerland" Keystone

A beer made with Swiss water should be considered a Swiss beer, the Swiss cabinet has decided. The cabinet is prepared to make changes to proposed legislation defining Swissness, the Federal Office for Agriculture announced on Tuesday.

This content was published on April 7, 2015
swissinfo.ch and agencies

A beverage is entitled to bear the Swiss cross on its label if the Swiss water it contains is an “essential determining factor”. This is the case for certain natural and flavoured waters and for beer, but not for drinks based on fruit concentrate, the government found.

According to ground rules for the protection of the trademark “Made in Switzerland”, discussed at length in parliament in the summer of 2013, at least 80% of the raw materials in a food product must come from Switzerland in order for a product to considered “Swiss”.  

The proposed legislation originally did not consider water content as a determinant, except in the case of mineral water and spring water.

Beer brewers were critical, however. Because up to 90% of beer is water, and hops and malt do not originate in Switzerland, this would have meant that there are no Swiss beers.

The cabinet announced its change in response to a question from parliament.

According to the Federal Office for Agriculture, the cabinet intends to adopt the Swissness legislation in the autumn, following consultation with the legal commissions of the Senate and House of Representatives.

In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

Contributions under this article have been turned off. You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?

Newsletters
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.

Discover our weekly must-reads for free!

Sign up to get our top stories straight into your mailbox.

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.