UK: Beer importer launches East African Breweries’ brand Tusker in UK

Beer importer Surfax is launching what it says is East Africa's most famous beer brand in the UK. Tusker is a 4.2% alcohol-by-volume lager brewed from malted barley grown in the Kenyan Rift Valley, and commands more than 30% of the Kenyan beer market, Morning Advertiser posted August 26.

It is brewed by East African Breweries, which has been named Most Respected Company in East Africa for five consecutive years in a PricewaterhouseCoopers and Nation Media Group survey. Surfax marketing director Peter Karsten said: "We are very excited to have been selected to introduce Tusker to the discerning UK market and are certain it will catch on." Speciality and imported beers have been growing 17 times faster than the British premium lager market in the past four years.

Karsten said he thought Tusker would fit in well in the UK as an imported lager. The beer dates back to 1922 and is named in memory of the brewer's founder George Hurst, killed by an elephant in 1923.

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