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The makers of London Lager have come under fire after being forced to admit the product is sometimes topped up with beer made at the Grolsch factory in the Netherlands.

Meantime said production of the drink, which claims to be made in its Greenwich microbrewery, had on occasion been outsourced to the Dutch site to meet demand.

But the firm, taken over by drinks giant SABMiller in May, insisted the recipe was identical and there was no difference in the product, which would then be blended with its own lager. Beer brewed in the Netherlands makes up at most 10 per cent of any London Lager bottle.

Grolsch's Enschede factory is also owned by Hyde Park-headquartered SAB, which brews Peroni and Foster's. Meantime, founded in 1999, recorded a 58 per cent hike in sales last year.

A spokeswoman for the brewery said: "Like most craft brewers, we have on rare occasion brewed beer to our strict specifications with other brewers to help us only during peak sales periods when we are struggling to meet demand.

"But this has only been required due to seasonal capacity constraints and ever increasing demand. These constraints will be alleviated somewhat by the large investments we are making at the brewery.”

She added: “The labels on our London Lager adhere to all current industry standards.”

Labels and beer taps used to sell London Lager state that it is "born and brewed in London," making it "London's finest lager brewed with Kentish hops and Anglian barley".