One key trend is the rising popularity of craft beer, appealing to consumers seeking unique and flavorful options, aligning with the global craft beer movement. Additionally, there's increasing demand for low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beers as health-conscious consumers seek alternatives.
A selection of Ghanaian beers.
Local circumstances, such as the expanding middle class and the cultural significance of beer in social gatherings, also contribute to market growth. Stable economic growth and a youthful population further support the beer market's development.
Tale Brewing: Pioneering with Local Ingredients
Based in Nsawam, about 25 miles north of Accra, Tale Brewing is making waves in the Ghanaian beer scene. Founded by Belgian expats Kristof Henot and Koen De Grave, the brewery poured their first beers at the end of 2022 and quickly gained recognition, with three of their core beers medaling at the African Beer Cup in the following year.
At the helm of Tale Brewing is Austrian brewmaster Jan Kaserer, who joined in 2022, drawn by the opportunity to pioneer something new and build a real African beer style. Tale's beers stand out for their high percentage of local ingredients, particularly rice. All beers at Tale Brewing contain at least 75 percent rice in the grain bill.
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The mash filter at Tale is crucial for their high-rice grist bills.
Historically, government regulations have shaped regional brewing practices. In Ghana, a high tax is placed on imported brewing ingredients-an excise of 47.5 percent on beers of less than 50 percent Ghanaian ingredients. However, if a brewer uses more than 70 percent local ingredients (excluding water), the excise duties drop to just 10 percent. This tax incentive is a welcome boost for Tale's founders.
To overcome these challenges, the brewery uses a combination of equipment and techniques. Besides the usual grain mill, there’s a hammer mill to pound the rice into flour. Once the rice is pulverized, the production team pumps the rice into a cereal cooker, spraying it with 158°F (70°C) water to avoid clumping. A dose of steam brings the temperature up to 176°C (80°C), where it rests for an hour to gelatinize. Because rice is low in protein, that’s a key part of the process, to ensure that Tale’s beers have adequate head retention.
After a two-hour mash process, the combined mash is pumped into a mash filter, forcing it through 40 plates to separate liquid from grain. What emerges is a remarkably clear wort with a surprising and impressive amount of malt character-it’s full-bodied and sweet, with a slightly oily texture.
The core beers all take what we’d see as a classic style-farmhouse ale, IPA, tripel, and tropical stout-and turn them on their heads. Each one uses at least 75 percent rice in the grain bill, besides a variety of locally grown botanicals-including ginger, cocoa, hibiscus, and lemongrass-all grown on the brewery grounds.
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Award-Winning Beers
- The Tale 5 Farmhouse Ale features lemongrass and is ideal for this climate. It’s fruity, dry, and effervescent, with an impressive pillowy foam. It also won gold at the 2023 African Beer Cup and silver the following year.
- The Tale 7 Ginger Triple-a magnificent manifestation of the base style and the herbal addition. For the Tale team, it’s a point of great pride that this Ghanaian take on a Belgian style won a bronze medal at the 2023 Brussels Beer Challenge.
Heritage Brewing: Embracing Ghanaian Flavors
Tale isn’t the only Ghanaian brewery winning international awards while using local grains. Heritage Brewing, the country’s first brewpub, opened in 2023 in Accra-and it took both silver and bronze in the Alternative Fermentable category at the following year’s African Beer Cup.
Danie Odendaal, Heritage’s South African brewer, favors cassava-a starchy root vegetable also known as manioc-as well as maize and rice. To a lesser extent, they also use sorghum and tapioca, besides some imported malts. According to Odendaal, the tax laws nudged their concept, but it’s really about harnessing local flavors and making something uniquely Ghanaian.
Instead of a mash filter, Odendaal and his team use a proprietary cocktail of enzymes, an adjusted mash process, and a custom-designed lauter tun to produce Ghanaian takes on IPA, lager, APA, stout, and several fruit beers. Those include a customer favorite that showcases Ghana’s oft-exported mangos.
Heritage uses a variety of Ghanaian ingredients in their beer and uses enzymes to improve fermentability.
The lager is clean and crisp, the American-style pale ale is surprisingly bitter in a country where hop-forward beers are virtually unheard of, and the watermelon hibiscus sour is balanced, beautifully showcasing the fruit. But my favorite is the stout, which features garri-toasted cassava that’s eaten as a breakfast dish throughout West Africa. The stout is a tad rich for the weather but full of flavor, with locally grown vanilla and coffee beans also starring in the profile.
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Guinness Ghana: A Legacy of Local Sourcing and Sustainability
Guinness Ghana Breweries Plc (Guinness Ghana) is the leading total beverage business in the country and a subsidiary of Diageo Plc. The company has been operational in Ghana for over 62 years, offering consumers a range of over 33 local and global brands, including Guinness Foreign Extra Stout - Ghana’s number one stout beer - which is locally nicknamed ‘Black Gold’.
Guinness Ghana seeks to have a positive impact in Ghana as both an employer and manufacturer, and a partner for wider growth. The company is committed to sourcing above 70 percent local raw materials for brewing the finest beverages and continues to invest in sustainable agriculture and brewing operations in keeping with its sustainable mantra of “grain to glass” in communities where it sources, produces and sells.
The company currently sources over 60 percent locally, a figure it has grown exponentially in recent years. Guinness Ghana also continues to expand its agricultural commitment and farmer network, working with over 30,000 farmers through its regenerative farmer programmes.
Guinness Ghana is also committed to managing water use efficiently and increasing access to clean water in water-stressed areas. Since 2020, the company has provided over 24,290 people with safe water or sanitation and has constructed and commissioned three solar mechanised water systems in its local sourcing areas.
Additionally, Guinness Ghana is actively reducing its environmental impact. Since 2015, the company has ensured zero waste to landfill and has co-established the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE) to address the menace of plastic waste.
Accra Brewery Limited (ABL): A Pioneer in West Africa
Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), first registered in Switzerland as Overseas Breweries Limited, was built in Adabraka in 1931, becoming West Africa's first brewery. The company's establishment marked the beginning of Ghana's non-traditional manufacturing industry, with CLUB Premium Lager, its flagship brand, becoming Ghana's first manufactured product.
ABL has been manufacturing CLUB Premium Lager for over 85 years. CLUB Premium Lager is Ghana's #1 selling beer.
Market Data
The following table presents key market data for the beer industry in Ghana:| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue, at home | [Revenue Value] |
| Revenue, Out-of-Home | [Revenue Value] |
| Volume, at home | [Volume Value] |
| Volume, Out-of-Home | [Volume Value] |
Note: Data was converted from local currencies using average exchange rates of the respective year. Most recent update: Source: Statista Market Insights
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