By Ben Ezeamalu
LAGOS (Reuters) -To the sound of Afrobeats in an open air pub at its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria’s Bature Brewery is working to wean more customers off the big brands and onto its locally inspired craft beers.
Globally, the craft beer market is forecast to triple to more than $250 billion by 2033, research from Business Research Insights finds, as craft producers win over customers from the brands of the major international companies AB Inbev, Guinness and Heineken.
“We know there is more demand,” Bature co-founder Kevin Conroy said. “Our goal is to get to 500 locations selling our products by the next 18 months. We are aiming to be doing 100,000 litres per month by next year.” The 500 locations compare with 70 now.
Bature Brewery, which began operations in Abuja in 2017 and is the biggest of Nigeria’s craft brewers, produces 22,000 litres monthly, including locally-inspired flavours such as Harmattan Haze, Lagos Lager, and Mango Disco.
Its efforts to persuade more people to drink its beer, which costs up to six times more than mass market bottled beer, include investing in draft dispensers in hotels, bars and restaurants.
To help ensure supply, Bature has installed diesel power and a water treatment plant to tackle sometimes erratic power and water supplies, and it has also installed new fermentation vessels and other equipment at its Lagos plant.
Other challenges in Nigeria include the devaluation of the naira that has raised the cost of imported raw materials.
Bature is seeking to appeal to local tastes with local ingredients, including coffee sourced from Taraba State for its Black Gold stout, which won a taste category at the 2023 World Beer Awards.
The world’s biggest stout producer Guinness first brewed in 1962 in Nigeria, which is its second biggest market for Guinness after the United Kingdom.
In Nigeria, the total beer market is valued at $7 billion annually, according to data gathering platform Statista.
Conroy says he expects to remain relatively small.
“We’re going to be a small craft brewery compared to the big guys, but we believe we can make the best beer and we can keep growing in our own way and do things in our own style,” Conroy said.
Even 1% of a $7 billion market would be $70 million.
“I will be very happy with 1% of the market. Even half of that will be great,” Conroy said.
Among those drinking at the Bature Brewery and enjoying the live band, Colin Egemonye, a businessman, is one satisfied customer.
“The flavour is beautiful,” he told Reuters.
(Reporting by Ben Ezeamalu; editing by Barbara Lewis)
