The History Behind Namibian Beer
By Tycho van der Hoog
Not a beer drinker? No problem. Breweries, Politics and Identity looks through a warm amber-coloured lens to bring us a view not only of the beer industry but of a broad history of Namibia from the late 19th century to the present. To be sure, the establishment of breweries and the production of beer are in the centre of this view but there is much to be seen and enjoyed beyond the imperatives of a fermentation industry. The book has great strengths. Tycho van der Hoog has collected a wonderful set of historical photographs that serve to illustrate the history of particular breweries, their staff and the changing nature of beer production.
But these images also provide compelling vignettes of German settler society and the development of racial capitalism. We see how transport, central to the brewing industry, develops over time from a construction cart renovating Southwest Breweries during the Depression led by a team of donkeys in-spanned with a zebra to heavy articulated mine-proof Mercedes Benz trucks in the 1980s. Context is clearly drawn. These delivery cum military vehicles moved bottles of Lager produced in Windhoek to the country's northern border with Angola during the liberation war. The author also has a good ear and has gleaned fascinating tales of intrigue as breweries competed in the market place almost from the inception of the Namibian liquor industry.
From the 1950s to the late 1990s, fierce battles between South West Breweries (later Namibian Breweries Ltd or NBL) and the South African Breweries (SAB) over brands and markets reached fever pitch in a series of beer wars. In some ways, the Namibian story mirrors that of the brewing industry in South Africa, but still an uniquely Namibian tale ist told. Dozens of people have shared their memories and opened their family albums, enabling him to bring out the local, the quirky and the nationalist elements of this history. Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer is fun at the same time as it is serious and scholarly.
Publisher: Basler Afrika Bibliographien ; ISBN:978-3-906927-12-1
This book is recommended by:
Windhoeker Buchhandlung
Independence Avenue 69
Windhoek
Phone: 061 225 216
By Tycho van der Hoog
Not a beer drinker? No problem. Breweries, Politics and Identity looks through a warm amber-coloured lens to bring us a view not only of the beer industry but of a broad history of Namibia from the late 19th century to the present. To be sure, the establishment of breweries and the production of beer are in the centre of this view but there is much to be seen and enjoyed beyond the imperatives of a fermentation industry. The book has great strengths. Tycho van der Hoog has collected a wonderful set of historical photographs that serve to illustrate the history of particular breweries, their staff and the changing nature of beer production.
But these images also provide compelling vignettes of German settler society and the development of racial capitalism. We see how transport, central to the brewing industry, develops over time from a construction cart renovating Southwest Breweries during the Depression led by a team of donkeys in-spanned with a zebra to heavy articulated mine-proof Mercedes Benz trucks in the 1980s. Context is clearly drawn. These delivery cum military vehicles moved bottles of Lager produced in Windhoek to the country's northern border with Angola during the liberation war. The author also has a good ear and has gleaned fascinating tales of intrigue as breweries competed in the market place almost from the inception of the Namibian liquor industry.
From the 1950s to the late 1990s, fierce battles between South West Breweries (later Namibian Breweries Ltd or NBL) and the South African Breweries (SAB) over brands and markets reached fever pitch in a series of beer wars. In some ways, the Namibian story mirrors that of the brewing industry in South Africa, but still an uniquely Namibian tale ist told. Dozens of people have shared their memories and opened their family albums, enabling him to bring out the local, the quirky and the nationalist elements of this history. Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer is fun at the same time as it is serious and scholarly.
Publisher: Basler Afrika Bibliographien ; ISBN:978-3-906927-12-1
This book is recommended by:
Windhoeker Buchhandlung
Independence Avenue 69
Windhoek
Phone: 061 225 216
