Unlike mass-produced beer, craft beers are often made with meticulous attention to detail.
If you have flown with Uganda Airlines over the last few years and ordered a beer right after your in-flight meal, chances are the hostess brought you a beer that you could have sworn was not Ugandan because you likely never heard of it before. But then you looked at the name Banange and you thought, oh my gosh! Definitely Ugandan.
A beer that many Ugandans have likely never heard of is the official Uganda Airlines beer. That is something, hey? Which gets you pondering.
There has to be a good reason why it beats giants such as Nile Special to the coveted position of representing Uganda in the global skies. And that reason might as well be the fact that it is a hand-crafted beer.
Craft beer is beer manufactured by hand in small breweries that run more on enthusiasm than anything else. These little breweries produce beers that are often sought after by beer lovers because they are perceived to produce novel, exotic flavours, using creative brewing techniques.
Unlike mass-produced beer, craft beers are often made with meticulous attention to detail.
There is always a unique recipe experimentation which produces distinctive, diverse flavours.
Hand-crafted beers like Banange often incorporate locally-sourced or unexpected ingredients, which is why beer lovers tend to gravitate towards them.
You order that drink well knowing you are ordering a drink with distinct character. You just pop the top expecting to be pleasantly surprised to a taste like no other.
And Banange does have character. The beer has hints of fruit flavour. If one’s nose serves one well, one might catch hints of strawberry, mango and banana. It has a very light froth that dissipates in a few seconds upon pouring, because it has very minimal carbonation and processing.
A beer with less gas (let us reason together) probably will not pump your belly up after drinking it. This can be reassuring when you do not plan on further building your beer belly.
Banange feels so smooth and mild to the taste that people whose palates cannot take the taste of malt might be tempted to enjoy the adventure of it.
To the tongue, it almost feels like it is not carbonated at all, making it taste fresh. Sort of draft beer.
No beer is like this on the market. No wonder beer connoisseurs, especially the real ones who are well-travelled, tend to opt for it.
Which might explain why it is very popular in tourists lodges and pubs that tend to attract expatriates. Did Uganda Airlines put this in consideration before deciding to corroborate with them? You bet.
If you visit any pub in Jinja, Entebbe, Kampala or any other city in Uganda that is popular with expatriates or tourists, you will likely find it stocked more with bottles of Banange than with our traditional beers that are publicly available everywhere.
Bazungu tend to seek it wherever they come to this country. It almost feels like Banange is an exclusive beer, for a select few. Kinda like premium champagne. You just cannot find it in any pub. You have to seek it in specific pubs that are classy enough to serve it.
Or, better still, you have to fly with Uganda Airlines to taste it. And when you finally find a pub that serves it, you cannot show surprise when you hear the price. Be cool.
For all you know, its prohibitive price might be the cause for the exclusivity because Banange is always double the price of other beers.
It is sold at as much as Shs20,000 in some pubs. Its retail price is Shs7,500 compared to Shs4,000 for the rest.
It is as expensive as imported beers, yet it is crafted in the heart of Kampala, somewhere in the leafy part of Nakasero hill. It is not a cheap beer.
Probably because a carft beer like Banange is akin to a work of art in the beer world. The same way a hand painted portrait is more expensive that a printed picture, Banange is pricy for mere fact that it is handmade and extra special.
Banange comes in five flavours, but only four are available to the public. The fifth, Golden Lager, is specially crafted for Uganda Airlines and you can only enjoy it in-flight. It is the only one of the five that comes in a can. Because bottles are too dangerous on an aircraft.
