I am entirely fascinated by the southern African beer marketplace with its overlaps of mass production industrial and the traditional product like this yeasty sorghum brew:
SABMiller’s Chibuku brand is also targeting home-brew users. It is made from locally grown sorghum and maize. Because of its resemblance to home-brews it resonates with these consumers. Chibuku is currently available in over 10 African countries. Chibuku continues to ferment after it has been packaged due to the presence of yeast in the beer. Chibuku, which is packaged in a 1 litre carton, starts off as 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) and reaches 4% ABV after a few days. Due to the short shelf life of Chibuku, not more than five days, Super Chibuku has been developed and comes in a 600 ml plastic bottle with a 21-day shelf life.
A beer that goes off after five days? What could be better? Something real from the makers otherwise of the plastic and well preserved. What would be the equivalent in this market? A growler of something straight from the primary with an air lock or something built into the cap to release the back pressure from the continued fermentation. Interesting that the majority of drink in Africa is described as being in the form of home-brews or illicit liquor. Creating new profit streams to tap into that made for a partnership between local government, local farmers and a great big strapping multinational.
Handy. Or is it the equivalent of those healthy fast food shack kid's meals training families to give up what they can do themselves to pay someone to do it for more money... and likely a concurrent drop in quality. Yet such "affordable beer" is a path to strengthen the local marketplace through sale of the final product as well as buying the grain that went into it and even a bit of tax for other things.
Comments
Martyn Cornell - October 23, 2012 7:08 AM
The sorghum beer market is HUGE in southern and eastern Africa, and practically ignored by "Western" beer writers.SABMiller owns some 70 or so (IIRC) sorghum beer breweries across the continent, having bought out the company that was its main rival in the market, Lonrho, some years back. But the homebrewed stuff is still very widely made in villages, and - fascinatingly - drunk from the pots its brewed in through long straws or reeds by groups of men and women who sit around the pot, EXACTLY the same way that Sumerians were depicted drinking beer through reeds on seals made 3,000 years ago, and the Pharaonic Egyptians were depicted doing the same thing. Here's an interesting post on sorghum beer in Burundi"
http://dianabuja.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/sorghum-beer-in-colonial-burundi-and-now/
Martyn Cornell - October 23, 2012 7:15 AM
Hmmm - I've left a comment and it's vanished into the ewigkeit ...
Martyn Cornell - October 23, 2012 7:20 AM
Let's try this again - sorghum beer is HUGE in sub-Saharan Africa and almost ignored by "Western" beer writers. SABMiller has about 70 (IIRC) sorghum beer breweries, having bought out its only big rival, Lonrho, some years back. But the making of home-made sorghum beer is still prevalent in villages across the continent and - fascinatingly - it's still drunk communally from pots through straws or reeds in exactly the same way as is dep[icted on drawings from Pharaonic Egypt and seals from Sumeria, thousands of years ago. Here's a nice piece about sorghum beer in Burundi:
http://dianabuja.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/sorghum-beer-in-colonial-burundi-and-now/
Martyn Cornell - October 23, 2012 7:23 AM
No - clearly doesn't like the link I'm putting in. Let's have a third go. Sorghum beer is HUGE in sub-Saharan Africa and almost ignored by "Western" beer writers. SABMiller has about 70 (IIRC) sorghum beer breweries, having bought out its only big rival, Lonrho, some years back. But the making of home-made sorghum beer is still prevalent in villages across the continent and - fascinatingly - it's still drunk communally from pots through straws or reeds in exactly the same way as is dep[icted on drawings from Pharaonic Egypt and seals from Sumeria, thousands of years ago. Here's a nice piece about sorghum beer in Burundi:
Martyn Cornell - October 23, 2012 7:35 AM
Well, I dunno, just can't get this post to stick with the link embedded in it: here's the no-link version. Sorghum beer is HUGE in sub-Saharan Africa, although almost entirely ignored by "Western" beer writers, and SABMiller owns some 70 sorghum breweries across the continent, IIRC, having bought out the brewery holdings of its one big rival, Lonrho, sopme years back. But home-brewed sorghum beer is still widespread and, fascinatingly, it's drunk communially through rteeds or straws out of pots in exactly the same way as depiced on drawings from Pharaonic Egypt and on seals from Sumer thousands of years ago.
Bailey - October 23, 2012 8:27 AM
Did you see this from the Economist earlier in the year?
Alan - October 23, 2012 8:35 AM
Martyn now wins for the perseverance award!!!
Alan - October 23, 2012 8:42 AM
It's the powers of anti-sorghum at play, by the way.
Alan - October 23, 2012 8:43 AM
BB: I want a t-shirt that says "Senator Keg"!!!