Craft beer tapping Kenya’s changing consumer tastes

Craft beer is an acquired taste and Dan Ashubwe knows this only too well. It is the reason he stops at Galleria Mall in Karen most evenings to unwind and enjoy his favourite tipple —Mara Pils, a brand of Sirville Brewery.

He says he prefers the brand because it is light, has no after-taste and hangovers usually associated with most conventional beers.

“If I take six regular beers, tomorrow I will be suffering the aftermath but with the Mara, I will not,” he says while sipping his beer at the Sirville Lounge, where he is a regular customer.

It has been three years since he first sipped craft beer, introduced to him by his friends visiting from the Netherlands.

“Since then, I do not take traditional beer brands, because I find them bland, unless I am outside Nairobi where craft beer is not available,” he said.

Craft beers are made by small and independent microbreweries which produce less than 1.8 million litres per year as a commercial venture or as a pastime among brewing enthusiasts.

Just like the big time brewers, they make use of four basic ingredients— water, hops, malt and yeast which infuses the fermentation magic.

Malt is barley which has been allowed to germinate — to release the starch that yeast ferments — and then heated to stop the process.

To achieve different alcoholic content, colours, favours as wells as aromas, craft brewers experiment with the amount of ingredients, the brewing period and strains of yeast used.

For instance, to achieve a pale-coloured beer, microbrewers roast the barley lightly during the malting process and, conversely, deeply roasted barley produce dark or black beers.

Hops on the other hand, give beers its bitter taste when it is added early on in the brewing process and an aroma when added at the end.  It also serves as a preservative.

Microbrewers tinker with this ingredient’s qualities to produce a wide array of drinks with distinct taste and smell attributes, an art and science they pride in.

They produce different types of beers such as ales, lagers and stouts.

“The amount of malt and hops put in while brewing will determine the resultant product,” said Charles Njogu, the managing director at Sirville.

It takes a minimum of 14 days to brew a particular craft brand with seven days of fermentation and a similar number of days for maturation. All this happen at conditions below two degrees centigrade.

It is the fermentation process with enzymes that make a beer concentrate.

Aside from Sirville, there are two other craft beer makers operating in Kenya — the Sierra Lounge and Brew Bistro.

While they all brew from the aforementioned basic ingredients, their unique style of brewing that distinguishes their brands from one another.

One of the perks to drinking craft beer, unlike mainstream brands, is that you actually get to meet the individuals brewing your favourite drink. Henry Simila, who has 37 years experience in the trade is the brew master at Sirville.

He mingles freely with beer lovers at the lounge, and dashes out occasionally to ensure everything at the brewery is in perfect condition.

As the customers sip on their beer, they can get a glimpse of Henry through the brewery’s glass walls as he does what he does best.

“If mishandling pasteurised beer can make it go bad, you can imagine the damage mismanagement of natural beer can have. Beer is like food, and we care about the welfare of the consumers,” he said.

Sirville serves customers four brands of freshly brewed beer which are named after Kenyan national parks. They include Tsavo Lager, Mara Pils, Amboseli Ale and Aberdares Bitter Ale, all served chilled at 8 degrees centigrade.
Sierra Brasserie in 2006 opened the first boutique brewery business in Kenya.

This made its head chef, master brewer and CEO the first individual in the country to break out of the conventional mold.

Alan Murungi’s journey as a brewer kicked off in Bangkok while dining at a Sushi bar with a friend.

The place served home-brewed beer paired with fresh sushi, an experience that eventually saw him sign up for a Master Brewer’s programme at the University of California.

In slightly over a decade, the boutique brewery has become a more industrial one currently located on Mombasa Road with a capacity of two million litres a month. Sierra Lounge located at the Yaya in Nairobi offers Sierra Platinum, Sierra Blonde, Amber and Stout sold on tap as well as cans and bottles.

Brew Bistro was unveiled in 2009 by Canadian-born and Kenyan-raised Aleem Ladak and has grown to be a popular spot among beer lovers today.

Aside from its good spectrum of beers that are only available on tap, a sight to behold is its brewery that is placed just in the middle of the bar.

The pub has a variety of special beers made with a traditional craft approach with its seasonal brews including Octoberfest, Marzen, Big 5 Berry Ale, among others.

While craft brews are becoming popular among beer lovers, their high retailing costs are the single most draw back to their growth in Kenya.

The high prices are due to importation of brewery equipment and ingredients such as hops which do not grow in tropical countries. “If you factor all these and the high taxes we are paying you will realise that operating a craft brewery is not for the faint hearted,” said Charles.

The three craft brewers are competing with well-established companies that have big budgets to take care of distribution and marketing. The micro brewers, however, foresee better prospects given the growing middle and upper-middle class population who account for craft beer clientele.

They are also pegging their hope on the country’s economy growth which recent data from the World Bank projected would hit six per cent this year.

“If the economy keeps on the upward trajectory as projected by the World Bank, we foresee more craft brewers springing up,” he said.

In Africa, South Africa has the highest number of craft beer makers at 190 while Kenya is leading at the East African region with its three operators.

The brewing process dates more than six thousand years back and history has listed Europe as being the cradle of modern brewing.

This explains why its brewers are at the forefront of global expertise, with major brewing schools based in Europe.

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