Global breweries have an established footprint in Africa’s beer markets, but they typically brew beers from grains imported from abroad. What’s more, how these beers taste is often determined by what is popular outside of Africa.
Africa’s young middle-class consumers want to enjoy good-quality beers at affordable prices and they are open to trying new products, such as cassava beer.
Fortunately, Novozymes’ brewing enzymes can be optimized to work with local raw materials such as sorghum, cassava, barley and teff, enabling brewers to produce quality beers, optimize their process efficiency and save energy and raw materials.
By switching to local raw materials, brewers can develop new flavors and generate significant cost savings. New tastes based on traditional African recipes are creating new consumer segments.
"Novozymes is working with some of the biggest brewers in Africa to change their approach and focus on local, rather than global," says Claudio Visigalli, Key Account Manager for Brewing at Novozymes.
"We’re helping produce local beers from local raw materials by either integrating the raw materials into established brands or creating new brands. Our technology supports some of the most popular beers in the region,” continues Romeo Markovic, Novozymes' Industry Sales Manager, Beverages.
Raise a glass to cassava
Together with Dutch group Barth-Haas, Novozymes recently produced a beer made from cassava. This was presented to industry experts in September 2017 at the annual Drinktec conference in Munich, Germany, with the aim of showing that high quality and excellent taste can be achieved when brewing with local raw materials.
Cassava is a starch-rich, drought-resistant root vegetable grown in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. By using cassava, African breweries can source their core raw material from local farmers, thereby supporting regional agricultural value chains and saving on the cost of importing and transporting foreign grain.
“With cassava, brewers can rediscover traditional beer recipes. Using our technology, they can produce beers to the highest quality and safety standards,” concludes Romeo Markovic.
