Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Powered by Genesis

You are here: Home / Editorial / Uganda’s Deadly Waragi

Uganda’s Deadly Waragi

May 21, 2010 By Jay Brooks

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.

Filed Under: Editorial, Politics & Law, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Africa, Uganda



Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Recent Comments

  • Beer In Ads #4547: Miss Rheingold 1960 Enjoys America’s Favorite Sport - Brookston Beer Bulletin on Beer In Ads #4544: Miss Rheingold 1960 Goes Bowling
  • Mary Mauch on Historic Beer Birthday: Armin Louis Neubert
  • Wally Lamb on Beer In Ads #4510: Miss Rheingold 1959 Goes Riding
  • Ian Leisy on Historic Beer Birthday: Isaac Leisy
  • Wendy West Hickey on Beer In Ads #4482: Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959 In Color

Recent Posts

  • Beer In Ads #4568: Miss Rheingold 1960 Leads The Parade September 23, 2023
  • Beer Birthday: Yuseff Cherney September 23, 2023
  • Beer In Ads #4567: Miss Rheingold 1960 Gets Out The Vote September 22, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Lord Chesterfield September 22, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Alfred Werthmueller September 22, 2023

BBB Archives

Go to mobile version