1922
St. George Brewery Opens in Addis Ababa
In 1922, St. George Brewery was established in Addis Ababa during the reign of Empress Zewditu. It formed part of a wider period of urban infrastructure and industrial development connected to Ethiopia’s new capital and its railway link to Djibouti. Bottled beer initially remained expensive and socially restricted compared with established Ethiopian fermented drinks. The brewery nevertheless marked the beginning of sustained industrial lager production in Ethiopia and later encouraged domestic malting-barley development.
Sources
These sources support the dating and historical claims in this entry.
Bekele, Shiferaw, and Anne Mager. “Beer, Modernity and the Politics of Nation-Building in Ethiopia.” Journal of the Brewery History Society 185 (2021).
Agricultural Reviews. “Malting Barley Production and Research in Ethiopia.”