4
SHERRY
PRIMUS SPARKLES
AMSTEL BOCK IN BURUNDI
I
Treasure from the past
Heineken's biggest brewery in Italy can be found in Massafra, in the heel of the boot, on the road
linking the south of Italy with the northIn 1963when the building had been completed with the aid
of Heineken Technical Services (HTB)the brewery's capacity was 250,000 hectolitres. This capacity
has meanwhile been boosted to one million hectolitres, a volume that can even be doubled once all
construction work in Massafra has been finished.
Black glasses
THE RICHES OF MASSAFRA
In June a contract was signed in
Amsterdam between Heineken
and the Spanish family-owned
firm, Osborne. Heineken will
become the exclusive importer
and distributor of Osborne
Sherry in Holland. This will be
handled by our Zoetermeer-
based subsidiary, the
'Gedistilleerd en Wijn Groep
Nederland B.V.' (Spirits and
Wine Group - Holland).
Osborne Sherry is one of the
biggest selling sherry brands in
Holland. For the Spirits and
Wine Group this contract
heralds the start of a further
expansion of its import range of
branded distilled products and
fortified wines.
The end of June saw the launch
of a big advertising campaign in
Zaïre. The campaign's theme
was 'Primus makes life sparkle'.
Its main aim was to make Primus
beer appeal to a slightly younger
public, as market research had
shown that the majority of
Primus drinkers are in the over-
45 age group. Primus has 40% of
the beer market in Zaïre. The
brand is brewed by Bralima
S.A.R.L., a brewery group with
five production units. Heineken
has a 60% stake in Bralima.
One of the roadside posters for the
Primus advertising campaign in
Zaïre.
here?' he regularly asks the people of
Massafra. Mimino spends a lot of his
spare time running his village scout
troup. One day he decided it would be
a good idea to go along with his scouts
and take a good look at the hundreds of
grottoes and caves and the dozens of
chapels carved out of the rock in the
hill on which Massafra is built.
A new world was opened up for him
T saw beautiful wall paintings when we
walked through the caves. The altars,
the churches and the old dwellings,
abandoned underneath the town, can
tell us lots of things about the way of
life of the former inhabitants of these
hills. Some of these treasures are
thousands, tens of thousands of years
old.'
This is why it's Mimino's fervent wish to
do something about restoring all those
historical riches with the aid of his boy
scouts. Not only to lift the veil on
secrets from the past, 'but also because
all this beauty, our own heritage, can
help boost the growth of tourism in
MassafraMimino loves the history of
his town. Its authentic, good relics
have to be looked after and preserved
For only quality will survive, only
quality has everlasting value. That's
what Mimino thinks about the
treasures from his town's history. And
it's the same attitude that also helps this
friendly analyst from the south of Italy
to brew a beer that has quality. A toast
to the caves of Mimino from Massafra
'May they be preserved!'
The brewery has a capacity of1,000,000
hectolitres.
In his spare time Mimino works a lot to preserve Massafra's grottoes.
Mimino Marangi in the quality control department.
A water-purification plant big enough for Tinplate and other packaging materials
a city of50,000 people. are supplied by rail.
In this warm part of Italy, where
orange trees, palms and cactuses
add romance to the landscape, the
brewery's water purification plant, big
enough to serve a city of 50,000
inhabitants, has also been built.
Massafra itself has a population of
35,000. The railway line brings in the
supplies of malt, tinplate and other
packaging materials. Lorries drive out
from Massafra to distribute the freshly
brewed beer throughout the country
to quench Italian thirsts. Visible from
miles away, the Dreher neon
advertising sign on top of the gigantic
silo building is like a beacon marking
the brewery as a source of refreshment
for weary hikers.
One person who knows that Italians
also enjoy a good glass of beer besides
This is the label of the Amstel
Bock beer now available in
Burundi. Since mid-August this
special ruby-red beer has been
on sale in that African country. It
is brewed in the brewery in
Gitega. Amstel is the first real
'bock' beer to be brewed in
Africa. Bock beer has long been
a familiar drink in Continental
Europe. In Holland, for
instance, it is traditionally
brewed in the late summer for
the autumn and winter season.
In Burundi Amstel Bock beer is
available all the year round.
People in that country refer to it
in short as Amstel Bock. It so
happens that in French-speaking
Central Africa the word 'bock'
means 'beer'. And the verb
'boeker' means 'to drink beer'.
Brasserie de Gitega also started
producing Amstel lager in June
this year. That's now been joined
by the special Amstel Bock Brew.
A new product. But one with a
familiar-sounding name.
their inseparable drink of wine is
Mimino Marangi. Massafra-born
Mimino, aged 33, is the father of a
daughter and a son. He works as an
analyst in the quality control
department at our Dreher Brewery in
Massafra. Together with five others, he
checks the raw materials, the beer and
the samples to ensure they are of good
quality. Is the beer too bitter? Is there
perhaps even the slightest variation in
its taste? Each week the quality control
department tests the beer, which is
served in black glasses so that the
tasters can't see its colour. And, as the
brewery also wants to know everything
about its competitors' products, these
are sampled here as well. However
precisely the taste and quality of our
beer can be analysed by machines and
instruments, the human sense of taste
remains crucial. And Mimino knows
that better than anyone else. But
Mimino's interests go beyond the
quality of beer. 'Do you realise how
many things of beauty you've inherited