Salvatore Martin: an authority on brewing
Where does Japan get
its beer from?
Zaïre gets to know
Mütrig premium beer
El Aguila scientist retires
Conical-sphere
The last day of 1988 will also be the last working day for Mr. Salvatore Martin. The scientist
will be retiring after thirty-three years with El Aguila. During that time he has grown to
become an authority in the brewing world. He was one of the key figures in the realisation of
the anaerobic water purification plant at Algete, he developed the conical-sphere storage
tanks and he knows everything about hops and processing them into pellets and hop extract.
With sales of some 4 million hectolitres Zaïre is one of the
leading African beer markets. Competition in Zaïre is keen,
but only in the regular beers sector, where Bralima is well
represented with Primus. Strangely enough, the premium
beers segment has not been developed. Which was sufficient
reason for the proud introduction by Bralima (70% Heine-
ken-owned) of Miitzig premium beer.
Launch
PAGE 8
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 17
Mr. Martin remains a modest
man under this barrage of praise.
He simply shakes his head and says
unemotionally: "No, that's not
true". And yet his list of achieve
ments is impressive. Apart from the
projects mentioned above he also
played an active part in organising
and presenting training courses for
the brewery personnel.
Besides this he is an active partici
pant in the European Brewers Con
vention, an organisation whose
members consists of breweries
from all over Europe. Mr. Martin
has put in many years of service as
a member of its Analysis Commit
tee.
Within El Aguila (but also
amongst colleagues from other
breweries) Mr. Martin probably
gained most respect for his ideas
about a new way of storing beer. In
cooperation with El Aguila's engi
neering department Martin devel-
Mr. Salvatore Martin in the computer room of the anaerobic water purification plant which he helped to develop.
oped the spherical cone-shaped
storage tanks - an unusual shape in
the brewing world - in 1972. Two
years after their invention the first
of these conical-sphere tanks were
installed in Algete, followed later
by their installation in Valencia.
Practical results with the tanks
can be described as excellent. The
walls of the conical-sphere tank
need not be as thick as those in the
traditional Heineken 'apollos', or
conical-cylinder tanks.Because the
apollo tank towers upwards there is
a greater pressure on the walls at
the foot of the tank. So the walls
need to be reinforced. In the
sphere-shaped conical tanks the
pressure of the beer is distributed
evenly over the walls, which means
that less material is needed.
The only problem involved the
jacketing of the tanks. Because of
oxidation the outer insulating cover
suffered damage. In the meantime
new rustproof materiaal has been
developed to remedy this flaw.
Not only beer featured in the
documentary. The film also
described 19th century meals.
Between six and ten million
Japanese tuned in to an hour-long
TV documentary last month to
view highlights of various aspects of
life in the Netherlands. 'Where
does Japan get is beer from?' was
one of the questions asked in the
documentary. And to find out the
answer a Japanese TV film crew
made shots on location at the
Heineken brewery in 's-Hertogen-
bosch in October.
Beer seems to be the tie that
binds Japan and the Netherlands
together, for it was the Dutch who
first shipped the beloved beverage
out to Japan. Japan's TV presenter
Sashi, enormously popular in that
country, took viewers back 130
years in time. He traced the
histories of the first fifteen
Japanese students who spent three
years of their lives in the Nether
lands in the nineteenth century.
The film crew reviews newly shot footage on a small monitor. Centre
(standing) the programme presenter, Sashi.
The advertising campaign emphasises the international character of Miitzig.
Miitzig, a pilsener lager of French
origin, is meanwhile a successful
seller in various African countries.
In the advertising campaign - and
notably in the TV commercials -
much emphasis is placed on the
beer's international character. Two
TV spots have been produced. In
the first film we see two newly wed
couples on a visit to Paris. On their
honeymoon tour round the famous
sights of the French capital they
regularly come across Miitzig. Back
in Zaire the foursome are seen
strolling down Kinshasa's most
famous boulevard and visiting a
disco. And there, too: Miitzig.
For the Miitzig launch Bralima
organised three meetings. The first
presentation was intended for the
Bralima management and the sales
department. At the second meeting
the wholesalers and the biggest
retailers were given extensive infor
mation about the new brand. On 10
November the official launch of
Miitzig was held in the Interconti
nental Hotel in Kinshasa. Amongst
those attending was Mr. Kithima,
secretary general of the Mouve
ment Populair de la Révolution. At
all the meetings a ballet was
performed depicting the theme of
the commercials.
The introduction of Miitzig is the
first time in ten years that consum
ers in Zaïre have had the chance to
try out a new beer brand. Within
Bralima the general feeling is that
this will have made drinkers even
more eager to sample the new
brand. In any event, expectations
are pitched high.
