ABSTRACT
The history of the pilsner style of beer encompasses the history of migration, technology and science, business and global temperance movements. In order for pilsner to dominate in South Africa (or any settler colony), it had to triumph over well-established British beer styles, British brewing methods and British cultural opinions of the lager. In other words, taste had to triumph over colonists’ loyalty to their empire’s own breweries and beer styles.
The break between British settlers and their country of origin in terms of beer consumption is a unique element of the colonial experience. My chapter focuses on British Southern Africa at the end of the nineteenth century and the transition from drinking ales of the British variety to producing and consuming German style golden lagers.
This chapter concentrates on the choices in what beer styles white European settlers and local white Afrikaner populations chose to produce and their methods for doing so. I do not look at beer production by black South Africans because they had their own local varieties of beer using local grains and different indigenous techniques for brewing that were not influenced significantly by the spread of pilsner beer. In addition, their beer production and consumption did not affect the welfare of white South African brewers or beer importers who had European connections. Also, while there were plural alcohol flows in Southern Africa regarding the consumption of wine and spirits, the brewing industry is my focus.
Through an analysis of brewers, colonial consumers, and the policies pursued by metropolitan and colonial governments, I explore the social and economic consequences of changing technology and consumptive tastes of European settlers in Southern Africa.
