Industry Brewing Number of locations Jinja & Mbarara Founder Rambhai Somibhai Patel Parent organization SABMiller | Headquarters Jinja, Uganda Area served East African Community Founded 1951 | |
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Products Beer, traditional beer, Water Production output 2.4 million hectolitres | ||
Nile Breweries Limited (NBL) manufactures beer and produces purified drinking water in Uganda.
Contents
Location
The NBL's headquarters and main brewery are in the town of Njeru in Buikwe District, approximately 6 kilometres (4 mi), north-east of the central business district of Jinja, Uganda. This is approximately 77 kilometres (48 mi), by road, east of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The coordinates of the company headquarters are 0°26'19.0"N, 33°10'47.0"E (Latitude:0.438620; Longitude:33.179720).
Overview
NBL's share of the Ugandan beer market was estimated at 52 percent in 2013.
Eagle Lager was launched to promote the use of locally grown sorghum to make lager beers and to reduce reliance on imported raw materials. Brand extensions now include an Eagle Extra and Eagle Dark.
History
NBL started as a single brewery in Jinja in 1951. The brewery was nationalised by Idi Amin in 1972. In 1997, South African Breweries bought a 40 percent share in the brewery and this was raised to full ownership in July 2001.
Operations
In October 2013, NBL opened a new brewery in Mbarara, about 250 kilometres (155 mi), south-west of Kampala. Built at a cost of US$90.6 million (about UGX:235 billion), the brewery was projected to produce 5.5 million crates of beers annually. The new brewery uses sorghum, maize, and barley, which are grown mostly by farmers in the region. The products of this brewery are marketed locally and exported to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A maltings plant with a 120-ton piece size was built on the brewery site at Jinja in 2011 to support a local barley growing initiative and to supply barley malt to the brewery. Involved in this construction was Excel Construction Limited, formed in 1992 as a joint venture company between the Madhvani Group and Gomba Construction Company Ltd.
Brands
Nile Breweries has ten locally produced beer brands (Nile Special, Nile Gold, Club Pilsener, Castle Lite, Castle Milk Stout, Eagle Lager, Eagle Extra, Eagle Dark, Redd’s, and Chairman's ESB), one locally produced traditional African beer (Chibuku), two imported lagers (Castle Lager and Grolsch), one ready-to-drink product (Redd's Vodka Lemon), and one bottled water brand (Rwenzori Mineral Water).
The flagship Nile Special brand is exported to Kenya.