How FourtyFour Premium Lager Became The First Beer Brand In South Africa To Be Brewed By A Black Female
How FourtyFour Premium Lager Became The First Beer Brand In South Africa To Be Brewed By A Black Female. Three friends from the East Rand have launched their own kasi craft beer, and created a brewery, Township Brew, in the process. FourtyFour Premium Lager launched in February this year and was co-founded by Vusi Radebe, Machode Msiza, and Sfiso Nhlapo, who have been friends for more than a decade.
The trio made it all happen with the help of Aphiwe Nxusani-Mawela, the first black woman in South Africa to have founded a microbrewery. “We realised that we consume a lot of beer, so why not play a part in that space by creating our own beer and get something from it as well. We were liked strongly on social media. We posted a lot and even got recognition from the like of [business mogul] Vusi Thembekwayo, who also created a story about filling up the tables with FourtyFour after the lockdown.” Radebe told Business Insider.
“Not being able to sell meant we needed to come up with other ideas to keep people aware of FourtyFour Premium Lager. That’s when we started selling merchandise such as sweaters, caps and T-shirts. Our dream is to have the actual brewing in the heart of the township in Tsakane. We already have the space, we just need to start liaising with people so that we can make the dream a reality, having a fully fledged brewery that will also benefit the people that are in and around the township,” Radebe added.
Machode describes the beer poetically to Business Insider. “It’s light, crisp, mellow and smooth, with a distinctive taste. It’s got a South African kick but a Mexican summer feel. The taste was a go-to because of the beverages we enjoyed to consume before we brewed our own. We tried to resonate with the taste common to us and that our peers and the mass market enjoy,” said Machode.
According to Radebe, despite challenges that came with Covid-19, the road to starting the business was pretty “seamless.” “More than being business partners we are friends, so we have been talking the same language. Our story was just the same. We knew what we wanted.”
