Guinness Ghana, one ofthe country’s top beveragemakers recently introduced a new home-grown beverage – Guinness Africa Special –made of blended localAfrican herbs and spices.
The company is tapping into what is a burgeoning brewindustry in Africa.
Last year, areport byCanadian research specialists whoprovide analysis of international soft drink and alcoholic beverage industries, said that theAfrican beer market is the fastest growing global beer market with an annual average growth rate of 5% between 2013 and 2017.
This means the African beer market will outstrip growth in the Asian and Latin American markets, which are projected to witness a growth rate of 4% and 3%, respectively. South Africa was named the biggest market in Africa by far.
African markets are highly consolidated and four brewers – SABMiller, Heineken, Castel and Diageo – account for 90% of the market. However, their monopoly is being challenged by new, emerging brands who are keen to get in on the lucrative action.
Why does beer matter? Inmany African countries, breweries are the oldest companies, somerelics of colonialism. Some are products ofnewly-found independence or experimental play by some engineers building Africa’s first infrastructure and wanting a drink! This makes so many beers a national institution and the old favouriteseasier to spot. As some of the longest existing brands and products in Africa, they are an integral part of many countries’ histories.
Here are some of Africa’s most popular beers and some interesting titbits about them:
In Cameroon there is an aggressive rivalry between the two key breweries: Brasseries du Cameroun and Guinness Cameroon. Brasseries du Cameroun however tends to dominate the market share with two of their brands in particular, “33 export” and “Castel”.
The favourite beer in Cape Verde is the localStrela beer. Production started in 2006 and it is already being exported to the Gambia and has its sights set on US exports too because of the large Cape Verdean diaspora.
Owned by Heineken International, Bralima is a brewing company of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 6 breweries, founded in 1923. It is also the brewery that makes the country’s favourite beer – Primus.
Stella Lager is probably the most commonly found beer in Egypt, not to be confused with the Belgian Stella Artois, having been on the market since 1897. A traditional lager, part of the Heineken family, it falls under the Al Ahram beverages company.
Founded in 1922, St. George Beer – named after the patron saint of Ethiopia – is the most popular beer.When itentered the Ethiopia market it was courtesy of Belgian owners, followed byGerman owners, before it was nationalised by the military regime. Today it is brewed by BGI Ethiopia, the largest brewer in the country.
Julbrew is The Gambian favourite, brewed by Banjul Breweries Ltd. The Gambia’s only brewery. One of the oldest companies in the country, it sells four varieties of Julbrew beer.
The beer race in Ghana is a tight one but Star Beerpips the others to the post in popularity. Star Lager was introduced onto the Ghanaian market in 1960 and is now brewed by the Guinness Ghana Breweries Group.
Tusker, the largest African beer brand in the Diageo group, is a beer brand owned by East African Breweries and is Kenya’s most recognised brew.The company’s first beer was brewed on 15 December 1922 and the first batch was delivered to theStanley Hotel in Nairobi.George Hurst, the company’s founder, was killed in anelephant huntingaccident and in his memory, his brother Charles decided to name the first beer brewed “Tusker”.The beer has since movedregionallythrough toTanzaniaand other countries in theAfrican Great Lakesregion and soon began to be exported internationally.
Three Horses Beer is the national beer in Madagascar. It has been brewed by theStar Breweries of Madagascar since 1958 and has since beenexported to such markets as France,Reunion Island, Comoros and Mayotte.Itis colloquially called “THB”.
While local brands like “Elephant” and “Kuche Kuche” are home favourites, Malawi has its own Carlsberg brewery. Officially opened on 14 December 1968, Carlsberg Malawi Brewery Limited (CMBL) was the first Carlsberg brewery outside Denmark. It is available everywhere and is a real beverage staple.
Mozambique produces two of the most awarded beers in Africa: Laurentina Clara, a pale lager, and Laurentina Preta, a dark lager. It is Mozambique’s oldest beer brand, first brewed in 1932, and is now exported to South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Phoenix Beverages is the largest brewery in Mauritius. Launched in 1963, Phoenix beerwas the first beer to be brewed in the island nation andhas since succeeded in charming beer lovers all over the world.
Being a former German colony, Namibia has a long history of brewing and makes pale lagers. Windhoek lager, named after the capital city, is the most familiar beer which is also one of the top four top-selling beers of Namibia Breweries Limited, which exports 60% of its production to South Africa and 22 other countries worldwide.
Nigerian Breweries Plc dominates the country’s beer sales and has two leading brands, Star and Gulder, that are well positioned in the market. The iconic Star Beer was introduced in 1949 as Nigeria’s first indigenously brewed beer in a market dominated by imported brands.
Primusis Rwanda’s biggest beer brand and is positioned as the national beer of the country. Bralirwa, which is a part of the Heineken Group, the largest brewer and soft beverage company in Rwanda, started producing Primus beer in 1959 and it wasthe only beer brand produced until 1987.
Kilimanjaro is Tanzania’s best-selling beer, made by Tanzanian Breweries (SABMiller), a brewery in Dar Es Salaam.
Nile Special is one of Uganda’s most popular beers brewed at SABMiller’s Nile Breweries located in Jinja. Nile Breweries Limited was established in 1951 by a group of businessmen associated with the Construction of theOwen Falls Dam.
Cuca is a brand of beer manufactured by Companhia União de Cervejas de Angola (“United Beer Company of Angola”) – a monopolistic brewer boasting a 90% share of the local beer market in Angola. Cuca beer was established in 1961, a daughter company of the Portuguese Central de Cervejas. On May 26, 1976, the government of Angola confiscated and nationalised Cuca, after taking possession of the Commission for Restructuring the brewing industry. Angola’s market for beer today is undersupplied and Cuca has grown exponentially in the six years since privatisation.
Zambia’s main beer, made by Zambian Breweries, is Mosi Lagerand it isnamed after the local name for Victoria Falls: Mosi Oa Tunya, which means “smoke that thunders”. The motto for the beer is ”Truly Zambian” and it truly is! It is strongly associated with sports (being a big sponsor) and in 2015, Zambian Breweries Plc was named the product of the year by the Zambia Bureau of Standards.
A light beer suited to the arid climate, Gazelle is a drink that is synonymous with Senegal since it was first brewed in 1928. It is priced significantly lower than other beers, apart from Flag, making it an easily affordable option.
This post was republished fromM&G Africa
