Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Uganda Beer

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Today in 1962, Uganda gained their Independence from the United Kingdom.

Uganda
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Uganda Breweries

Uganda Brewery Guides

Other Guides

Guild: None Known

National Regulatory Agency: None

Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known

Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.08%

uganda

  • Full Name: Republic of Uganda
  • Location: East-Central Africa, west of Kenya, east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Government Type: Republic
  • Language: English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic
  • Religion(s): Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 42% (Anglican 35.9%, Pentecostal 4.6%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.5%), Muslim 12.1%, other 3.1%, none 0.9%
  • Capital: Kampala
  • Population: 33,640,833; 37th
  • Area: 241,038 sq km, 81st
  • Comparative Area: Slightly smaller than Oregon
  • National Food: Matoke
  • National Symbol: Grey Crowned Crane
  • Affiliations: UN, African Union, Commonwealth
  • Independence: From the UK, October 8, 1962

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  • Alcohol Legal: Yes
  • Minimum Drinking Age: 18
  • BAC: 0.08%
  • Number of Breweries: 6

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  • How to Say “Beer”: beer
  • How to Order a Beer: One beer, please
  • How to Say “Cheers”: cheers
  • Toasting Etiquette: N/A

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Alcohol Consumption By Type:

  • Beer: 4%
  • Wine: <1%
  • Spirits: 2%
  • Other: 94%

Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):

  • Recorded: 10.91
  • Unrecorded: 1.00
  • Total: 11.91
  • Beer: 2.05

WHO Alcohol Data:

  • Per Capita Consumption: 10.9 litres
  • Alcohol Consumption Trend: Stable
  • Excise Taxes: Yes
  • Minimum Age: 18
  • Sales Restrictions: Hours, places, intoxicated persons
  • Advertising Restrictions: No
  • Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: No

Patterns of Drinking Score: N/A

Prohibition: None

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Uganda’s Deadly Waragi

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uganda
If you recall last week I did a post about Kenya’s Kill Me Quick Moonshine. It seems another African nation is having a similar problem. This time it’s Uganda, who according to Time Magazine, is having issues with a “methanol-laced version of a homemade banana gin known as waragi.

From Time’s The Battle to Stop Drink from Destroying Uganda:

Unregulated waragi accounts for nearly 80% of the liquor produced in the country, according to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), which oversees production of legal products in the country. It doesn’t help that the alcohol is inexpensive and that the penalties for producing or selling it are ineffective. A tall glass of homemade waragi — usually made from bananas or cassava, millet or sugarcane — goes for about 25 cents, one-sixth the cost of the leading regulated brand.

While there are differences and similarities between the problems both countries are experiencing, it still seems it’s a failure of striking that balance between regulation, taxes and market forces. As we increasingly have to examine our own alcohol policies as the call for increased taxes continues, it’s useful, I think, to see how the rest of the world both effectively, and in these cases ineffectively, deal with finding that balance.