Botswana’s best-selling beer, a pale lager brewed by Kgalagadi Breweries in Gaborone and named after the brewery’s original label. It is the default bottle at a braai and the standard measure against which other beers in the country are judged.
It is a specific commercial lager from one brewery, and brewing beer at home is licensed or restricted in much of the atlas’s readership.
What goes into it
- malted barley
- hops
- brewer’s yeast
- water
How it is made
Malt is mashed to convert its starch to sugar, the sweet wort boiled with hops, then cooled and pitched with a lager yeast that ferments cool and slow. The beer conditions cold for weeks before filtration and bottling. Everything about lager depends on temperature control, which is what a brewery is for.
How long it takes: three to five weeks from mash to bottle
How it is eaten
Very cold, from the bottle, at a braai or a bar.
History
Brewed by Kgalagadi Breweries in Gaborone and the country’s best-selling beer, it takes its name from the brewery’s original label.
Frequently asked questions
What is St Louis Lager?
St Louis Lager is a wine & spirit from Botswana: botswana’s standard pale lager, drunk cold at every braai. Brewed by Kgalagadi Breweries in Gaborone and the country’s best-selling beer, it takes its name from the brewery’s original label.
How is St Louis Lager made?
Malt is mashed to convert its starch to sugar, the sweet wort boiled with hops, then cooled and pitched with a lager yeast that ferments cool and slow. The beer conditions cold for weeks before filtration and bottling. Everything about lager depends on temperature control, which is what a brewery is for. It takes three to five weeks from mash to bottle.
Can I make St Louis Lager at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. It is a specific commercial lager from one brewery, and brewing beer at home is licensed or restricted in much of the atlas’s readership.
What goes into St Louis Lager?
Malted barley, hops, brewer’s yeast, water.
How is St Louis Lager eaten?
Very cold, from the bottle, at a braai or a bar.
