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The liso is a traditional serving size (250 to 255 cc) of unpasteurized draft beer, popularized in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina.
This way of drinking beer, which began in the 1930s, is served in a stange-style glass (smooth, without texture), typically used for pilsner-style beers.
Over the years, this Santa Fe beer tradition spread to the rest of the region and remains alive to this day.
Intangible cultural heritage
Today, the liso santafesino is recognized as intangible cultural heritage of the city of Santa Fe and is an essential part of local and regional gastronomy.
On December 11, 2014, the liso was officially declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Santa Fe, at the initiative of council member Adriana “Chuchi” Molina, at the Honorable Municipal Council of Santa Fe.
Municipal Ordinance No. 12,159 was the first to legislate around a tradition, in line with the provisions of the UNESCO Convention.
In 2023, provincial legislators introduced a bill to declare the liso as intangible cultural heritage of the province of Santa Fe.
Traditional celebrations in Santa Fe
Since 2019, on the initiative of brewer and event organizer Gabriel Andruszczyszyn, the Día del Liso Santafesino (Liso Day) is celebrated every second Friday of December.
The festivities take place at various restaurants and bars that keep the tradition alive in the city.
At each edition, a commemorative plaque is unveiled, bearing the work of local artist Oscar “Peco” Pecorari, a specialist in the traditional Buenos Aires decorative art known as fileteado porteño.
Plaques have already been placed at Club Sarmiento, Los Primos Bar Restó, Don Marcos and Alte Deutscher Santa Fe (Sociedad Alemana Santa Fe), all of which stand as reference venues for enjoying a liso as Santa Fe cultural heritage.
The date was established by Ordinance No. 12,866 in November 2022 by the Honorable Municipal Council of Santa Fe.
Who was Otto Schneider?
Oral tradition holds that the liso was popularized by businessman and master brewer Otto Schneider, a German immigrant who settled in Santa Fe in 1911 and was a key figure at the Bieckert, San Carlos, Santa Fe and Schneider breweries, the last of which he owned.
According to Schneider’s meticulous habit, he greatly preferred to enjoy draft beer in a smooth glass, without marks or ridges, which allowed for better observation and analysis.
The shape of the stange glass helps preserve and retain a better head (so that oxygen does not alter the product) and promotes proper cold conditioning.
Beer tradition
In the late 19th century, the city of Santa Fe (as well as Esperanza, Humboldt, San Carlos, Romang, Franck, San Jerónimo, Cavour and Grütly, among other towns and colonies in the area) experienced population growth with the arrival of Swiss and German immigrants who brought with them a strong brewing tradition.
However, prior to the first wave of immigration and in the mid-19th century, imported beers arrived in Santa Fe bottled in white clay bottles from Norway, Bavaria, Great Britain and Germany.
Furthermore, by the end of the century (according to 1894 records), four brewing workshops existed in the provincial capital of Santa Fe, while domestic market demand was met by products from Rosario and Buenos Aires, among other locations.
The first steps of the industry
The brewing industry in Santa Fe took its first steps at the beginning of the 20th century. On September 26, 1911, shareholders and part of the board of “Sociedad Anónima Fábrica de Cerveza y Hielo Santa Fe” gathered, and it was Germán Nagel who led the project’s beginnings, with Otto Schneider as master brewer.
In 1912, the first production tests of Santa Fe beer were carried out and, in a short time, Carlos Funkel was appointed to head the company’s management. During the 1910s, the company faced difficulties in the supply of raw materials (mostly imported) due to the international context marked by World War I and inflation.
In the early 1920s, an economic recovery became evident with the rise of bars and cafés offering draft beer, and Cerveza Santa Fe began exporting to neighboring countries.
In the 1930s, when the liso santafesino emerged as a way of drinking beer, the first beer gardens opened, managed by immigrant communities, owners of German descent, neighborhood clubs or attached to community centers.
Why is it called “liso”?
In 1931, SA Cervecería Schneider Santa Fe was established, shipping its first barrel in 1933. That same year, Recreo Schneider opened — a beer garden belonging to the eponymous brewery that operated until the 1980s as a catering establishment run by the Achleitner family. Earlier, in 1979, the company founded by Otto had been absorbed by Cervecería Santa Fe.
According to Eduardo M. Revuelta, former general director of the Schneider brewery, the term liso was coined by Otto Schneider, who — with limited Spanish — would visit the traditional bars of the city and ask to be served his beer in a smooth (liso) glass, smaller than the usual mugs.
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