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Delta Corporation Limited (Head Office)
Sable House,
Northridge Close
P.O. BOX BW 294
Borrowdale
Harare
Phone: 263-4-883865/883872
Fax: 263-4-883864
Cell : 263-712 614 652/5
 
Mandel

Events
Chibuku: 50 Golden Years of Home Grown Cheer

Take a guess which beer brand the following statements refer to:

  1. It’s the biggest selling beer brand in Zimbabwe; in fact it accounted for just more than one out of every two beers consumed in Zimbabwe in the past year.
  2. It’s arguably the fastest expanding beer brand in the SAB Miller Africa portfolio, having received a hearty welcome as far afield as Ghana from humble beginnings in Zambia in the late 1950s.
  3. Compared to many other beer brews, it has high food content, using the goodness of nature to make one of our country’s most beloved drinks.
  4. Its biggest selling pack, the 2L was named after one of the most infamous missiles used in the Gulf war.

If you guessed Chibuku, chances are you’re one of the millions who have had a taste of this popular brew before. Chibuku officially turns 50 this year in Zimbabwe, having been introduced to this country in 1962. One of the most interesting aspects of Chibuku beer is the name itself, Chibuku. The way the name came to be makes for interesting reading. The gentleman who developed this popular brew, Max Heinrich was a fermentologist who was trained in Berlin. Heinrich settled in Zambia, and combining the local culture of beer making with his own scientific training, he began to brew and sell sorghum beer.

During the early days, Heinrich’s beer was constantly being adjusted depending on customer response. The recipe details would be meticulously recorded in a book, and tweaked accordingly until the perfect formulation was reached. Heinrich’s workers noticed his obsession with book, and quickly picked up on its importance to the beer brewing process. The workers started calling the popular beer “Chibuku”, coming from the local reference to the recipe book, “E-book-u”. Today, Chibuku is still made by “the book”, with the brewing manuals guarded by the Production Managers who make your favourite beer every day.

 

  1. It’s the biggest selling beer brand in Zimbabwe; in fact it accounted for just more than one out of every two beers consumed in Zimbabwe in the past year.
  2. It’s arguably the fastest expanding beer brand in the SAB Miller Africa portfolio, having received a hearty welcome as far afield as Ghana from humble beginnings in Zambia in the late 1950s.
  3. Compared to many other beer brews, it has high food content, using the goodness of nature to make one of our country’s most beloved drinks.
  4. Its biggest selling pack, the 2L was named after one of the most infamous missiles used in the Gulf war.

If you guessed Chibuku, chances are you’re one of the millions who have had a taste of this popular brew before. Chibuku officially turns 50 this year in Zimbabwe, having been introduced to this country in 1962. One of the most interesting aspects of Chibuku beer is the name itself, Chibuku. The way the name came to be makes for interesting reading. The gentleman who developed this popular brew, Max Heinrich was a fermentologist who was trained in Berlin. Heinrich settled in Zambia, and combining the local culture of beer making with his own scientific training, he began to brew and sell sorghum beer.

During the early days, Heinrich’s beer was constantly being adjusted depending on customer response. The recipe details would be meticulously recorded in a book, and tweaked accordingly until the perfect formulation was reached. Heinrich’s workers noticed his obsession with book, and quickly picked up on its importance to the beer brewing process. The workers started calling the popular beer “Chibuku”, coming from the local reference to the recipe book, “E-book-u”. Today, Chibuku is still made by “the book”, with the brewing manuals guarded by the Production Managers who make your favourite beer every day.

Traditionally, local authorities used to make their own opaque beer brews and sell them in council owned beer halls. However, the introduction of a standardised, great tasting and packaged beer changed all that. During the 17 years from 1962 upto 1979, Chibuku had established over twenty breweries across the country. That was an average on a new brewery every year. Most of the breweries developed out of buying out local authority run operations. Customers were in love with Chibuku, and it was a top business priority to acquire facilities that ensured customers got the product in its best condition. Probably, one of the most famous wins for Chibuku was when the business entered into a partnership with the then Salisbury Municipality in 1979,where Chibuku virtually took over Rufaro Brewery, winning an agreement to manufacture and distribute both Rufaro and Chibuku beer .



One of the best aspects about Chibuku is not just that it is a great tasting national icon, but that it has strong grassroots credentials. The Chibuku Road to Fame launched in 2001 and the Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Festival launched in 1963 are examples of this. Delta, through its Chibuku brand has been supporting these two properties since inception. The two platforms have strong developmental targets.

The Neshamwari festival funds and showcases the best local grassroots talent in traditional dance, keeping local culture alive whilst rewarding the people who perpetuate this key generational storehouse of tradition.  The Chibuku Road to Fame is much more youth oriented, and celebrates the Zimbabwean music, searching for and rewarding previously unrecorded talent. These two properties have since grown beyond our humble beer and have become popular local events followed in the press by many.

Did You Know
  • The first Chibuku Brewery was commissioned in the then Fort Victoria in 1962.
  • Oliver Mtukudzi, turning 60 this year is one of the patrons of Chibuku Road To Fame
  • Chibuku is brewed across 15 breweries all over Zimbabwe from Harare to Hwange
  • In 1978 Chibuku was available in dry powder form where 15kgs made 100l of beer? The beer needed 24 hours to mature and lasted for 100 hours.
  • In 1979, Chibuku contributed $25 000 to build the Chibuku Stadium as a joint venture with Chitungwiza Council.
  • Around 1955, the Chief Medical Officer at Nkana Mine in the then Northern Rhodesia, Dr A Coetzee originated the concept of Chibuku. He thought that traditional beer, rich in maize, yeast and sorghum malt might provide the answer to malnutrition if it had high protein and calorific additives.

Source :  A Company History 1899 – 1999 (Delta Corporation)