Did you know that Licor Beirão originated from a beautiful love story?
Yes, it’s true, it all started with a love story. And who doesn’t love a good love story? This one is rich, full of romance and unexpected adventures. It all began at the end of the 19th century, when a traveling salesman fell in love with the daughter of a pharmacist from Lousã, and they ended up getting married. The traveling salesman was Luiz Pinho, who saw a business opportunity in the elixirs sold in pharmacies for stomach problems, since in 1910 a law came into effect prohibiting the sale of alcohol in pharmacies. He took the recipes for these elixirs and set up a small liqueur factory. It was only in 1929 that this elixir gained a name, after the Beirão Congress in Castelo Branco: Licor Beirão! However, it was in 1940, after the factory was put up for sale, that José Carranca Redondo bought it on one condition: that his girlfriend agree to marry him. And so it was; the contract was signed on March 11, 1940, and they got married on October 5 of that same year! When the factory opened, they had about 70 products available, but José Carranca realized that it was preferable to specialize in two or three really good ones rather than dispersing them in that way.
However, times were very turbulent, and in times of war it was not easy to sell liqueurs, and it was precisely for this reason that Carranca Redondo had the courage and vision to realize that advertising could make all the difference. Thus, he began a massive campaign spread along the roads and cafes from north to south of Portugal, which made Licor Beirão known in the 1950s.
‘What a liqueur, doctor!’
Did you know that Licor Beirão was the first to start advertising and merchandising in Portugal? Who remembers the iconic wooden rulers, stickers, straw hats, and catchy slogans? All these materials were made in the factory (the carpenters who made the wooden crates that transported the bottles were the same ones who produced the rulers), because, being a fairly seasonal product, they used the workers to produce these materials and thus promote the brand in a unique and beloved way for the public. Billboards also caused a sensation, and the most iconic of the time was the famous wooden sign with a little bird advertising Licor Beirão with the Serra da Lousã mountain range in the background.
Interesting fact: one of the advertisements that marked the history of advertising in Portugal featured the phrase ‘the Beirão that everyone likes’. A primary school teacher once told José Carranca: ‘Oh Carranca, it’s not ‘the Beirão that everyone likes,’ it’s ‘the Beirão that everyone likes,’ the ‘that’
refers to things and the ‘who’ refers to people.’ To which Mr. Licor, as he was known, supposedly replied, ‘But that’s exactly what I want, for it to refer to people!’ In the midst of the Salazar regime, this could have had bad results, but history tells us that Salazar found the audacity amusing and commented to his secretary, Solari Alegro, who had family ties to Lousã: ‘The man has some charm.’
And so this is a little bit of the history of Portuguese liqueur, and how it intertwines with our region and continues to be successful around the world to this day.