Tabitha Karanja, CEO, Keroche, will be happy to know that were you to walk into a random bar, Keorche Summit Malt is rated the best you can have, ie, if you are not at Brew Bistro, Sierra or a high end Kenyan pub.
(Image: Business Daily – http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Keroche-owner–Kiereini-in-line-for-Kenya-50-top-award/-/539550/2096214/-/oe6bdiz/-/index.html)
The wazungu’s have jetted into the country, the visa fee has been paid, the glasses have been emptied, the waitresses have gotten the coveted dollar tips (mostly converted into Kshs.) and the jury is in.
Of 32 Kenyan beers – indicating beers originally brewed in Kenya as opposed to imported beers or beers manufactured in Kenya under license – Keroche Summit Malt, President Extra Lager and Balozi Lager are the best* (best widely distributed, see below) Kenyan beers. This is according to the world’s biggest rating of beer, ratebeer.com, which relies on anyone in the world to give their sober opinion.
First of all, the sobering fact here is that there are 32 beers that would stagger back to what they call their home, Kenya.
The three beers above however are not the best in Kenya.
The beers from Brew Bistro’s Big Five Breweries and those from the Sierra micro Brewery rule the roost when it comes to quality of the tipple. These guys don’t spill their drink.
Keroche Summit Malt only comes in at the 8th position. It’s also the highest rated larger in Kenya, though a premium lager.
If drinking a beer, you are most likely to be drinking a pale lager, which is the most common type of beer in the world.
President Extra Lager is Kenya’s best pale lager, though we knock it out due to it being a strong pale lager, or an extra strength. This means that its alcohol content is double what we are normally looking for in a beer.
The history of the President Extra Lager dates back to Uhuru taxes, which is a set of taxes introduced by Kenya’s fourth president, Uhuru Kenyatta. The taxes targeted Senator Keg, a kegged drink from East African Breweries Limited targeted at low income earners. This saw the price of the keg more than double, making it unaffordable to the target market and also resulting in a 90 percent drop in revenues for EABL. We doubt the move resulted in any substantial taxes for Uhuru’s government, but it did result in a good beer.
Kenya’s top rated pale lager thus ends up being Balozi lager, which staggers in at the 13th position.
Kenya’s so called premium beer, White Cap, holds the bottom at the 30th position, only beating White Cap Light and Pilsner Ice – rated Kenya’s worst beer.
EABL’s flagship beer, Tusker Lager also sinks down to the bottom at position 27.
An interesting tidbit to note is that brewers using German equipment – Keroche and Sierra, are among the top rated brewers. Anyone know where EABL gets their equipment?
Sources at EABL tell us that quality at the brewer is often hampered by demand, which stretches resources. It is said that Diageo’s (majority shareholder at EABL) head of Africa once termed EABL’s beers as “confusedâ€, due to their lack of consistency.
Interesting, beers targeted at low income earners from EABL seem to be doing well.
The drinkers however don’t seem to mind the rating, with low rated Tusker and Pilsner being widely popular.
Below are the top 10 beers currently according to ratebeer.com
|
NAME |
SCORE |
COUNT |
STYLE |
||
|
1 |
2.95 |
2 |
|||
|
2 |
2.89 |
2 |
|||
|
3 |
2.87 |
2 |
|||
|
4 |
2.86 |
2 |
|||
|
5 |
2.85 |
3 |
|||
|
6 |
2.81 |
2 |
|||
|
7 |
2.79 |
1 |
|||
|
8 |
2.77 |
2 |
|||
|
9 |
2.76 |
2 |
|||
|
10 |
2.76 |
1 |
The full list ranking Kenya’s 32 beers is available here.