Beer in Namibia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Windhoek warehouse

Beer brewing in Namibia dates back to at least 1904.

history

In 1904 there were four microbreweries : Kronen Brewery ( Swakopmund ), Omaruru Brewery ( Omaruru ), Klein Windhoek Brewery ( Klein Windhoek ) and Felsenkeller Brewery ( Windhoek ).

These were bought up in 1920 by the German Namibians Carl List and Hermann Ohlthaver shortly after the end of the German colonial era in German South West Africa and merged to form the South West Brewery (now Namibia Breweries ), the first major commercial brewery .

Until the outbreak of the civil war in Angola in 1975, imports of Cuca beer from the neighboring Portuguese colony of Angola were of some importance, especially in northern Namibia. The Cuca Shops, which are still widespread in Namibia and where alcohol is served illegally, were given their name. The beer is still imported into northern Namibia via the Santa Clara / Oshikango border crossing .

Traditional beers include Oshikundu and Tombo, which have been brewed for generations .

Todays situation

Namibian beer is still brewed today (as of October 2017) almost exclusively according to the purity law of 1516.

Namibian beer has been exported to many countries around the world since the mid-2000s. It is also very popular in South Africa, despite strong local competition from SABMiller . Craft beer has also been increasingly popular in Namibia for several years.

In 2017, Namibia was the country with the fifth highest beer consumption worldwide.

Breweries

  • Namibia Breweries (NBL) - Founded in 1920, the Ohlthaver & List (O&L) brewery
    • Camelthorn Brewing - Founded in 2008 and bought by Namibia Breweries in 2014
    • Hansa Brewery - closed in 2005 (was part of NBL)
  • Swakopmund Brewing Company - Independent microbrewery (O&L) founded in 2015
  • Namib Dunes Craft Brewery - Microbrewery founded in Swakopmund in 2017
  • Skeleton Coast Brewery - Henties Bay microbrewery founded in 2018
  • Tholch - Microbrewery founded in Windhoek in 2017

literature

  • Tycho van der Hoog: Brewing Identity Beer and the establishment of the Namibian nation. African Studies Center / Leiden University, Leiden 2016, Master's thesis. ( available online )
  • Tycho van der Hoog: Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer. Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2019, ISBN 978-3-906927-12-1 .
  • Bernd Masche: Namibia - our country, our beer. Padlangs Publications, Windhoek 2019, ISBN 978-99916-908-4-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. Our Heritage. Namibia Breweries Ltd. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  2. Entry on the 1970s in the "History of beer in Namibia" timeline at www.reinheitsgebot.beer, accessed on October 22, 2017
  3. Cerveja Cuca já chegou e quer produced in Portugal. In: Diário de Notícias . June 7, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2017 (Portuguese).
  4. 500 Years Purity Law. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  5. Our Market. Namibia Breweries Ltd. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  6. ^ The Craft Beer Revolution. The Namibian, September 1, 2017.
  7. October 5, 2017 - News in the evening. Hitradio Namibia, October 5, 2017.
  8. Closure of the Hansa brewery. Allgemeine Zeitung, June 6, 2005.