Serengeti Lager Beer Review – Bottling Tanzania’s Pride and Joy

June 24, 2023 Cameron Mackenzie

Serengeti Lager is Tanzania’s ‘pride and joy’. And if the brand’s motto doesn’t tell you that, the beer label certainly hints at it.

Bold black and gold colors with the jaguar as an icon show off a beer that is loud, proud, and protective of its identity, just like the jaguar itself.

Named after Tanzania’s biggest grassland wildlife protected park, the Serengeti, Serengeti Lager appears boastful and full-bodied. However, it doesn’t smell or taste strong. In effect, the beer is actually quite easy to drink; it lures you in without slapping you in the face.

This much can also be said for Tanzanian culture. A culture that is confident and strong, Tanzanians also balance pride with joy. Drinking their pride and joy beverage, you feel humbled and welcomed into this bright and beautiful country.

National Pride in a bottle

Beer brands in Tanzania are a source of national pride (Tanzania is the 6th country in Africa for beer consumption). Serengeti is owned by the bigger company East African Breweries Limited (EABL), East Africa’s leading branded alcohol business.

The Serengeti national park is also what Tanzania is sometimes best known for, home to the Great Migration (one of the natural wonders of the world).

Therefore, the brand is significant for Tanzanian culture and East African culture as a whole. The jaguar itself symbolizes protection and power so the beer is already rife with mentions of national pride from the label alone.

It seems a delightful indication of how East Africans can reclaim their identity, so long obscured by colonial and neo-colonial forces. The label also shows all the awards won, so you feel like you’re about to experience a beer that has authority in the East African market.

100% malt: the first of its kind

Serengeti Lager was launched in 1996 and was the first Tanzanian beer that was 100% malt. You can taste those deep nutty, toast, and dark fruit flavors when drinking, but they are subtle rather than immediate.

Its honey color is also darker than normal for a lager, showing again how it's leaning it to its more malty ingredients. It goes down well, and with a small head, you find yourself drinking it quickly.

For a lager, it has a sharp bitter taste – bolder than you’d expect. Compared to its sister beer, Serengeti Lite, it's quite a contrast in taste. This seems to be done on purpose and shows the brand’s savvy marketing.

One proud malty beer on the one hand, and on the other its light-spirited sister. For the brand, this casts a wide net to its audience, offering beer for every kind of consumer.

The alcohol percentage is at 4.8%: A pilsner with an edge. There are no abrupt citrusy flavors, and the dry taste leaves you wanting more.

A ‘premium’ experience for the people

It may seem like an oxymoron: Premium drinking for the people. But this might be its unique selling point. The brand has made a beer that looks and feels exciting to drink but goes down easy. It’s loud and proud, but also just as accessible.

I wouldn’t just order this beer again. I would go to Tanzania, order the beer, and engage with Tanzanians in bars, beaches, or wherever they offer Serengeti Lager.

It’s a country that welcomes foreigners with open arms, and its beer certainly lives up to that same standard.

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