The primary beer brewed and consumed in Chile is pale lager, though the country also has a tradition of brewing corn beer, known as chicha. Chile's beer history has a strong German influence – some of the bigger beer producers are from the country's southern lake district, a region populated by a great number of German immigrants during the 19th century. Chile also produces English ale-style craft beers while also developing its own craft beer identity.

Chicha is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer made from a variety of maize landraces has been the most common form of chicha. However, chicha is also made from a variety of other cultigens and wild plants, including, among others, quinoa, kañiwa, peanut, manioc, palm fruit, rice, potato, oca, and chañar. There are many regional variations of chicha. In the Inca Empire, chicha had ceremonial and ritual uses.