Beer has deep roots in South Africa, with its brewing history influenced by European settlers and indigenous knowledge. The brewing industry dates back to 1895 with the founding of Castle Brewery, which catered to the mining industry after gold and diamonds were discovered near Johannesburg.
A field of sorghum ready for harvest, a key ingredient in traditional African beers.
The Historical Context of South African Beer
Beer was born in the Fertile Crescent, but honed and perfected in Africa, the continent where traditional brewing has continued uninterrupted ever since. The ancient Egyptians had a separate hieroglyph for ‘brewer,’ highlighting the importance of beer in their society. Early records of fermentation date back to circa 10,000 BC in Sumeria, in the northern regions of the Middle East, in the area of modern Iraq.
Traditional brewing methods continue into the 21st Century, despite what some analysts describe as a gradually declining demand and the efforts of some governments to discourage and even outlaw the practice. One of the more dangerous symptoms of the informal brewing of traditional beer is the lack of quality control. Towards the end of last year in Kenya, hundreds of people died and others were permanently blinded after drinking a toxic batch of illegal chang’aa (sorghum beer) containing either methanol, battery acid or formalin.
In fact, during the European missionaries’ drive into Africa for converts, a Belgian Trappist monastery was established in what is today known as The Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). The Trappist monks are famous for their fine and potent brews, but the monastery, Notre Dame des Mokoto, only produced beer for its own consumption. Nevertheless, umnqombothi (pronounced oom-kom-bo-tee) remains a firm favorite among southern Africans in particular.
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Africa itself only represents some 5 percent of global beer production, but of this South Africa constitutes about 54 percent. This means that one country comprises half of an entire continent’s commercial beer market.
The Rise of South African Breweries (SAB)
SAB was established in 1895 by Charles Chandler, Anders Ohlsson, and brewer Charles Glass and filled a significant gap in the market during the South African gold rush. SAB was established in 1895 by Charles Chandler, Anders Ohlsson and brewer Charles Glass, and became the first industrial share to be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. In 2000, SAB produced no less than 53 million hectolitres of beer (or 44.5 million barrels). Its flagship brand is Castle Lager, first launched in 1898, with another 14 labels comprising its production portfolio.
The domestic success of South African Breweries is no doubt bolstered by two of the country’s most popular pastimes: braais (barbecues) and spectator sports. Both activities traditionally involve a tremendous amount of beer drinking. A single game of cricket takes five whole days to complete. That’s five whole days of sunburnt spectators dousing themselves with cold beer.
SABI Africa, SAB’s international division in Africa, runs operations in almost all Southern African countries and has recently reached deeply into the eastern, central and even western African beer markets. When SABI agreed to a joint venture with Tanzanian Breweries in East Africa, this immediately sparked an intensive ‘beer war’ with Kenya. As SABI bought up more and more of the African beer market, even in Kenya itself, Kenyan Breweries decided to fight fire with fire by entering into a partnership with Guinness International.
SABI’s latest and most significant strategic alliance in Africa is with the Castel Group’s Beer Division (CBB). Whereas SABI was the dominant force in southern and east Africa, the CBB controlled the majority of the markets in central and western Africa. The alliance expands and consolidates both companies’ positions in Africa by way of a nil premium share exchange. CBB does not produce sorghum beer, but has extensive interests in the mineral water and carbonated soft drinks markets. SABI is growing, with 79 breweries in 21 countries, and beer production increasing at 28 percent last year.
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Today, South African Breweries (SAB) controls the vast majority of the South African beer market, and with the notable exception of imported brands such as Heineken, Guinness, and others, SAB owns and produces all the major brands in the country, as well as owning Miller's Genuine Draft (American) and long list of others which makes it the world's second-largest brewery.
South Africa accounts for 34% of Africa's formal beer market and is expected to grow by 8-10% annually over the next five years.
The Significance of Carling Black Label
Their most popular and valuable brand is Carling Black Label, the most-awarded beer in the country with 20 prestigious international beer awards. They also produce Castle milk stout, Hansa Pilsner, Castle Lager, and Castle Lite.
Black Label was introduced to the United Kingdom in 1952. In the 1970s and 80s, Carling Black Label sales were driven to great heights, due partly to increased advertising support, in particular the classic "I bet he drinks" series of advertisements, and partly with the launch of Carling Black Label in cans. The "I bet he drinks" series of ads showed someone doing something cool, clever or difficult, and having a bystander say "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label". With the help of this advertising campaign, it became Britain's best-selling brand of beer in 1971. In the 1980s, many of the adverts featured comedians Mark Arden and Stephen Frost, also known as The Oblivion Boys, delivering the classic punchline. Carling was Britain's best selling draught beer between 1985 and 2024.
Furthermore, the connotation of black to the racial issue became a point of pride to the native Africans. In South Africa, Black Label began to take on a different tone with the anti-apartheid movement. It used to be sold with the motto, "America's Lusty, Lively Beer", perhaps in reference to Canada, though it is seldom seen in the United States. The motto came from an older advertising campaign in the United States. The beer was parodied by South African T-shirt company Laughitoff.
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The Rise of Microbreweries
Despite the virtual monopoly that SAB has established in South Africa, microbreweries do exist. Mitchell’s, by far the largest and most popular of the four, has recently been bought by the Scottish and Newcastle, the biggest brewer in Britain. Since its inception in 1983, the original Mitchell’s brewery in Knysna (South Africa) has grown by leaps and bounds.
Among the other micros, Royal, which produces Tollies Lager, and Birkenhead, whose hoppy, amber draught is almost as heavy as a Guinness, are both estate breweries nestled in the scenic valleys of the southern Cape Province. Birkenhead uses a natural mountain spring on its estate to produce its beer.
If you consider Mitchell’s astounding success, there should be a lesson for future entrepreneurs here. But SAB has recently revealed that despite (or perhaps even because of) its flourishing international interests, its production figures in South Africa have decreased. In addition, Tony Manning, one of SAB’s strategy consultants, has expressed concern over SAB’s “unpopular” image as a monopoly.
Recent developments have seen an increase in South African Beer Tourism initiatives. Initiated by Beer Route, a collaboration of craft breweries in South Africa, other players have since come on board to help guide tourists to taprooms throughout the country. Around the same time, Kwazulu-Natal also had a local guided product named KZN Craft Revolution. Some smaller microbreweries have sprung up in the past decades and tend to compete regionally. The country's first microbrewery was Mitchell's Brewery in Knysna.
East Coast Brewing Co. SMACK! There is a reasonably large homebrewing community in the major metropolitan cities throughout the country. Homebrewers meet monthly in major cities, including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Durban, and Bloemfontein. There are numerous national competitions held yearly. 2022 saw the inaugural bevPLUS Fools National Club Championship held at Fools and Fans 5 in the little town of Greyton in the Western Cape. Clubs from across the country competed against each other in an official BJCP competition to be crowned the best club in the country.
South Africa is experiencing a massive wave of craft beer in the country. South Africa has always had a beer-drinking culture. The sales of beer out weights the sales of wine. With the inception of craft beer we now have a beer society.
Craft beer is not a cheap industry to get into. I have seen people building humble breweries and others advanced breweries. Starting a brewery here you need love, you need to love what you are doing because it takes 10-16 hours of your day. Without love, your passion will disappear quickly, and it will show in your product.
Traditional Beer vs. Commercial Beer
Traditional beer differs from every culture. They use malted sorghum, maize meal (milled corn), and water. You mix the ingredients to be a paste and leave it to ferment. When you taste it, it will be sour. You cook it in boiling water to make it porridge. After it cools you mix it with water to make it runny. You leave it to ferment for 4 to 5 days.
European and Bantu beer have much in common. The latter is virtually the primitive forerunner of the former. In Leipzig, Germany, a centuries-old brewery is preserved as a tourist attraction, and its product is hard to distinguish from Bantu beer. It is not generally known that the nutritional value of European beer closely approximates that of Bantu beer. Both contain about the same percentage of alcohol, but in contrast, fermentation is terminated in the case of European beer by pasteurisation after bottling; it continues with Bantu beer until it turns 'sour'. The alcoholic content of Bantu beer increases after it leaves the brewery, and it is not unusual to find that it contains more alcohol than permitted by law, namely, 3% by weight or nearly 4% by volume.
Traditional brewing methods continue into the 21st Century, despite what some analysts describe as a gradually declining demand and the efforts of some governments to discourage and even outlaw the practice. The real reason for the persistence of this ‘underground’ brewing is poverty. Most people simply can not afford the commercial lagers and stouts on sale at liquor stores.
Neither commercial nor illegal and brewed by individual households, this smooth, rich and slightly sour indigenous sorghum beer is made by adding sugar, water and corn to soft-cooked sorghum-meal porridge, allowing it to stand, then repeating the process to taste. The natural fermentation process gives the beer a thick and creamy head of various-sized bubbles.
This says a lot about political and cultural imperialism. When European colonisers settled on the African continent, there was a juxtaposition of cultures, but no real integration thereof.
Recent developments have seen an increase in South African Beer Tourism initiatives. Initiated by Beer Route, a collaboration of craft breweries in South Africa, other players have since come on board to help guide tourists to taprooms throughout the country. Around the same time, Kwazulu-Natal also had a local guided product named KZN Craft Revolution. Some smaller microbreweries have sprung up in the past decades and tend to compete regionally. The country's first microbrewery was Mitchell's Brewery in Knysna.
The Ingredients of South African Beer
The tropical central African climate yields a particularly sanguine form of fermentable cereal known as sorghum. Sorghum beers differ widely, however, not only from region to region, but between neighboring households. To this day, even urban Africans mark a special occasion by slaughtering a goat and drinking sorghum beer.
The sorghum beer, brewed almost exclusively by women, is usually transported over vast distances by rural relatives who still practice the traditional brewing methods.
In the industrial production of Bantu beer, maize grits became the primary ingredient and were mixed with sorghum malt in a ratio of two to three parts of maize to one part of malt.
Raw materials and supplies are also an issue. Wood says hop and grain selections are very narrow, noting that SAB owns all of the country’s hop farms and is the only domestic supplier of crown caps as well.
“I believe SAB are forced by anti-monopoly legislation to sell base malt to local breweries,” Van Heerden says. “That gives us a good low-cost source for our base grains. They also sell bittering hops, but for all the specialty grains and aroma hops we have to import. The current shortage of IPA hop varieties and our declining currency is making that an expensive exercise.
Beer is Art: Empowering South African Youth
Beer is Art is a project that engages South African youth in the booming craft beer industry in the country. Obakeng is both a documentary filmmaker and a brewer, drawing attention to the creativity and breadth of expertise of South African brewers. “[It’s] not just about drinking and getting drunk… [I] wanted people to get the same experience of the cicerone”. Her focus is youth.
The campaign teaches about beer, that beer is not something that you drink and get drunk off. Just like wine where they have sommeliers. Here we have cicerone. We teach beer and food pairing. Brewing and licensing. They don’t have funds to pay for the education of beer. How we are going to sustain this is through having beer documentaries and reality shows that will sustain and maintain this project.
I compare it to pizza. You can buy mass-produced pizza from big organizations. [But,] once you taste real quality pizza, you will know that you have eaten pizza. Many people taste craft beer and say, “Wow I have never tasted something like this. I have been robbed all my life.” We are now introducing ales, wheat beer, [and] blondes; and, they say I have never had this all my life.
Table: Key South African Beer Brands
| Brand Name | Brewer | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Castle Lager | SAB | Lager |
| Carling Black Label | SAB | Lager |
| Castle Milk Stout | SAB | Stout |
| Hansa Pilsner | SAB | Pilsner |
| Mitchell's (various) | Devil's Peak (contract) | Various |
