I will not say how and when I came to understand the logic of amber-economics and neither will I divulge the name of the individual who so graciously introduced me to the illicitness of underage lager drinking, but I will say that beer makes the world go round.
And that if you’re unlucky enough to find yourself in a country which doesn’t make, sell or drink beer, then that place, godforsaken as it must be, will definitely have another selection of home-brewed something that is made from something, that skops you like nothing else. And as the locals laugh at your leering smile and your teetering perambulation, you will wonder why this unusual drink is not bottled and sold in South Africa.
But of course later on, while crying for your mother, at a rural clinic where aspirin is the only familiar medicine and stomach pumping may involve a vacuum cleaner, you will realise that beer is always a better option.
Indeed having recently summoned Whyte & Mackay’s master distiller, the inimitable Richard Paterson, to Durban in the middle of the Whisky Live Festival in Cape Town and Johannesburg and having had the privilege of tasting Whyte & Mackay’s superb range of premium whiskies, including the Jura and the Dalmore and having had the distinct and singular honour of experiencing the Dalmore 62-year-old (of which there were only ever 12 bottles produced and which sells for about $51000.00 (USD) per bottle or $2040 (USD) per 30ml tot) it occurred to me that whisky is not so much about drinking as it is about the appreciation of an age-old art.
And the same goes for beer.
From the earliest days the monastic brewers sought to infuse their secret recipes with their carefully selected local ingredients to produce a richly refreshing brew which warmed the heart and nourished the soul as it went down. And being the God-fearing clerics that they were they sought to ensure that each monastery had its own special brew.
Along the way many a king sought to hijack the wealth of the church and as a result the means to produce both spirits and beer moved away from the church and into the private space. As such the demands of life created the opportunity for the development of specific products and thus production houses (or breweries).
Over the last 200 years these have become increasingly consolidated such that at present there are a handful of global beer giants. In South Africa the need to imitate the Belgians, Germans and British led the apartheid government to blithely endorse the agglomeration of SA breweries into a position of market dominance and now having enslaved the vast majority of the population into the consumption of its beer, SABMiller has moved on to add big brand beers from around the world to its portfolio.
Now without going into detail about the beers consumed in South Africa and without bemoaning the absence of a decent wheat beer, I will say that all of the common beers we drink are complete rubbish. Indeed it is a joke to compare our stout to any other stout, let alone Guinness or for that matter our thin and gassy lagers to any other lagers except for the American beers. And as that seems to be our forte it is ridiculous to assume that the sheer size of SABMiller in South Africa has anything to do with the quality of its products.
SAB’s Pilsner Urquell is strangely different from SAB’s Hansa Pilsner, which itself is no cousin of SAB’s Grolsch Premium Pilsner, and the disparity in quality between Amstel and any of the SABMiller “premium” lagers is so stark that any Amstel drinker will take a while to choose a substitute in the absence of the Dutch wonder.
But am I just being stupid, after all at just R8 for a 750ml bottle of Castle, Black Label or Hansa surely we should just be happy and drink the lager as it flows? After all at this price beer from local bottle stores is cheaper than soft drinks from petrol stations. And this dynamic of being able to put an inferior product (in comparison to the other SABMiller products) in the hands of a beer-drinking public at less than the “lighties’ creme soda” surely does nothing to reduce the level of alcoholism in South Africa.
From the 1996 to 2010 the price of milk has more than doubled while the price of beer has not. Unquestionably beer remains the one purchase that all South Africans and our visitors are able to afford come boom, recession or market failure.
And this and only this is the reason for the extent of beer consumption in South Africa. We have taken a beer-drinking culture and made it unfashionable and then we have replaced it with both synthetic and plastic values and imported ideas of what constitutes “fresh, young and cool” and convinced a population which predisposes to drinking beer that this new type of beer in a bottle, as opposed to our more traditional beers, is the better and thus more fashionable option.
This against the cultural background of the superimposition of the massa’s socio-cultural tastes and values has led us to have a predominantly European style of beer that pervades our society and has become synonymous with every single major endeavour in South Africa. And I suppose we will argue that the dop system is responsible, we will argue that the easy-drinking beers are more functional than the traditional beers, after all can you imagine lugging a 20-litre drum of iJuba with you to a braai or are a few cases of Castle a better bet? The iJuba will put everyone on the floor faster but the Castle is more likely to help you get laid after all no fashion-conscious brand-digger shags for iJuba, does she? Well not on the first date at any rate.
But is this state of near monopoly, with just the Namibians and a few independents offering alternates, a permanent reality? I don’t think so. In fact I would say that if a company sold three times as much volume beer as SAB does in South Africa — via its Castle Lager, Carling Black Label Lager and Hansa Pilsner brands — then that company would be able to compete in the local market and beat the R8 price at the local bottle store.
Surely the premium beers in South Africa are undersubscribed in comparison to the Castle giant such that their price is not just reflective of the technikon thinking which dictates that “premium means it must be more expensive” but also indicative of the fact that lower volumes mean higher break-even prices.
So it would that if a brewer from a country that had for instance 100 million borderline-alcoholic, hardened beer drinkers in their home country, as opposed to our 5 million such people, that that brewer would be able to enter the South African market and compete with the SABMiller giants. The trick would be to just bring their biggest volume beer as is, with no rebranding, no reformulation, no rebottling, no bullshit and just dump 5 million quarts of that mass-volume beer on the South African market at under R5 per quart, every single day.
And soon the reality of the facts that in the absence of a cheap version of Tennent’s Super T Strong Lager (which is the beer of choice of bergies in the UK and Australia) cheap beer skops you more and that whatever the cheap and nasty beer is, that it’s no different from SAB’s 3 house lagers, and such the price alone will dictate that our consumers drink deeply from the imported beer.
No-one precludes this foreign brewer from bringing their premium beers provided that they don’t try to compete with the pretentious bullshit doled out by SAB’s marketing people. We don’t want to see “beers that set you free”, “beers that make you cool”, “beers that compensate for the lack of personality and charisma in your life” or “beers that make you attractive to every brand-digger”.
What we want to see is a case of quarts for R50. And though SAB can do that, until such time as another global giant enters the market they will have no incentive to do so. However having said that I would advise this new foreign brewer to base their bottling plant for the whole of Africa (bearing in mind that the majority of central, east, north and west Africa is Muslim and therefore not into beer) in Zimbabwe, where labour is cheap and non-unionised, where the government is for sale and where getting products into South Africa is easy.
Who would be such a potential market-conquering brewer? Perhaps in time as the Chinese beers grow in popularity throughout Asia and as rice and sorghum become palatable to the Euro-beer market, this could be a Chinese brewer. But as it stands now, in my humble opinion, there’s only one contender and that is the UB Group of India.
And though Kingfisher may be their flagship brand, I think they should dig deeper to find a brand of beer, which may be unfashionable, but which is sought by the majority of beer drinkers in India. Don’t worry about taste, we don’t like the taste of the beer we currently drink. Just pour on phuza and we South Africans will be there.
Kingfisher is not bad but it is rather sweet. Give me a Castle anyday – the most underrated beer in the world. Those who look down on Castle should note that in blind tastings of beer where taste is everything, and image is nothing, it consistently is chosen above the rest – by sophisticated overseas beer lovers as well as SA swillers. We should just be happy and drink the lager as it flows
Just for clarity sake:
Of all the beers available in the world, I still prefer Castle Lager. The others are either, too strong, too weak, too bitter, too sweet etc. Castle Lager has just all the right proportions.
Now that we have that out of the way, I can distictly remember that someone, had this idea, many years ago. I think it was Louis Luyt, the rugby billionaire.
Anyways, a brand of beer called Colt 45 was brought onto the market, costing significantly less, than the beers offered by SAB.
It was actually selling quite well, untill SAB started fighting back. They brought out a beer, that had a very similar name, tasted exactly the same, and sold for less.
It wasnt long, and Colt 45 existed no more, not long after SAB pulled their brand as well. a Very clear case of anti-competitive behaviour on the part of SAB, but I dont even think the word ‘anti-competitive’ behaviour existed back then.
Just another point for the author of this article to keep in mind. I have seen many liquor companies start out by offering cheaper alternantives, which wasnt bad at all, but seeing that all business is motivated by profit, it just so happens that the moment their brand started selling well, they immediately jack up their prices. At times, to higher than the usual brands.
So your idea of some company offering cheaper quality products is not gonna happpen in this lifetime
Drivel! Another South African with an inferiority complex – only imported is good. I’d like to see the price come down too, but that price includes 40% excise tax, before company tax! But you knew that of course? As you have learnt about beer from the internet, why not mention the WORLD medals that Castle, Black Label and others have won…and see who they beat – a Google search will reveal this. Viva Castle – proudly South African!
There isn’t enough writing about beer.
Thank You Avishkar.
How’s Yash the rash?
For your information labour in Zimbabwe is unionised and political even though it might be in the beggar phase at the moment. And SABMiller associate Delta/Natbrew dominates even the opaque or traditional beer market which could be bigger than the clear beer market (as it is even the local authorities have their own breweries) following such that . To that extent there have been some attempts to introduce clear sorghum brew but with little or no success on the part of the self same Natbrew meaning that Castle, Black Label, for some time after its phasing out in SA even Lion Lager. There has been flirtation with Heineken etc but just that flirtation. The “cheap” lager drinkers or bergies are in their own way discerning, there are others who drink only Black Label, others only Castle. It is not so cut and dry.
sorry perhaps i wasnt clear… me want… to pay R5 per 750ml quart at my local bottle store for castle, black label or hansa and i want a case of 12 for R50 (local retail price to me, ie.i expect big liquor stores to be cheaper)
me no want to import beer… me want big foreign brewer to build a new plant in zimbabwe and make their products here… and i want 5million quarts of their biggest volume low cost beer to be sold in south africa everyday… and this wud mean that a small town in zim near the border becomes UB City for example. but we wud need a free trade deal like jebel ali, and thers no reason why rsa and zim public enterprises cant get a slice of the business is there?
and in respect of the “best beer” dunkel weissbier is no. 1 and while we cant make “weissbier” for the same reasons we cant make “champagne”, we do grow wheat and we do make beer – perhaps one of the small independent breweries in sa would consider making their own wheatbeer?
Glad you appreciated the effort that went into making quality whisky!
@the nose… even a novice bartending-politico like myself is able to see that water of life… is worth fighting for… no billy wallace required… at the same time, one cannot wonder whether when we will have some competition for SABMiller…
typo… “…whether OR when…”
Nice opinion piece.. Well done, you did a little internet surfing to get some ‘facts’ to give your opinion piece credibility. You call local beers thin and watery – When was the last time you drank a standard Guinness (which will be about two months old by the time you pay buy it)? Last time I checked, Grolsch is a premium Lager, not a Pils(e)ner, which is why it wouldn’t be a cousin. Wheat beers are probably best left for Europe, where the climate will allow the delicate taste notes to be appreciated better; check for local brewers in the Natal Midlands for those perhaps. And to reiterate Nina’s point, the local beers have won far more awards than MANY of the imported brands.. Might be worthwhile stating that this is an opinion piece upfront, as its quite thin on fact.
@ted… balls….guiness may not be perfect outside of ireland… but at its worst its 100 times better than milk stout… grolsch makes a pilsner, in fact pilsner is a lager of sorts… but to call grolsch a pilsner in sa (where its not urquell ie. the original pilsner) wud just “devalue the brand” by association with hansa… its the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, you tosser, we liberated the slaves of Natal many moons ago – and it was actualy Nottingham Rd that i was thinking about… as regards wheat beer… its like a beer should taste… not like a liquid sour dough… but more invigorating… and the “delicate” tasting notes are unobservable to the vast majority of Weissbier drinkers… (of course the pun of Weiss meaning white as well as wheat, escaped you in the context of this discussion)… who cares what awards SAB has bought or given itself… it doesnt get my seal of approval… what wud SAB do without its legion of blind supporters… shame… it must be tough to have no freedom of thought… but wait… is it cos i suggested an indian company come here and challenge SAB’s monopoly?
and when i make an image that says castle land… and then talk about building an indian brewery in zim… who would think that its anything BUT an opinion piece…
go bury your snout in your 2nd rate lager and thank me that im hashing SAB to cut its prices for the rest of 2010… blah blah blah
and when you drink dunkel weissbier mixed with coca-cola, for breakfast, lunch and dinner… come back and tell me about the facts in my opinions about liquor dumbass… factually, i have made more cocktails and poured more drinks and served more beer in my short life than most professional bartenders… and given that i witnessed SAB’s destruction of Lion lager… the rebranding sunk the volume while the new taste killed the loyalty… i say with certainty… keep the idiot commerce kids and the “marketing people” away from important decisions, like the quality or presentation of your beer…
but go pray to your gods of castle, black label and hansa and then ask yourself… why am i settling for 2nd best… swak…
even windhoek beats sab anyday… and thats not imported is it?
An admirable idea, but your understanding of the economics of the SA beer market is off the mark.
The reason SAB has managed to maintain it’s monopoly is not because its cheaper and\or better beer. It’s because SAB has also managed to monopolise the distribution channels.
The vast majority of beer in SA is drunk in shebeens and townships (approx 70% of volumes) and SAB dominates that supply chain (for example, by buying new trucks for “independent” drivers (called owner-drivers) on condition they only deliver SAB products.)
So to get at SAB’s market share, it’s not just a matter of “just bring[ing] their biggest volume beer as is, with no rebranding, no reformulation, no rebottling, no bullshit and just dump [ing]” it on the market.
Its no good being cheaper if your beer isn’t available in the places where SAB gets its volumes. Overthrowing SAB will require MASSIVE investment in the supply chain, and even if you’re saving on rebranding, marketing, rebottling etc. With a limited market size, its just not worth it.
Which incidentally, is why companies like brandhouse, even with major international backing, have targeted the premium\aspirational segment; because they can reach it.