was founded in 1865 as Castle Brewing in Johannesburg, from which it served the influx of miners and prospectors into the Witwatersrand Goldfield. The company brewed 75,000 hectoliters (63,912 US bbl) in its first year. It changed its name to South African Breweries (SAB) two years later, floating on the local stock exchange, and setting up head offices in London in 1868. In 1910 the founding of the Rhodesian Brewery was its first foreign foray. To develop indigenous raw materials, SAB imported barley seeds in 1911. Then, in 1935, it cooperated with rival Ohlsson’s to develop local hop production. Apartheid, introduced by the South African government in 1948, made the sale of alcoholic beverages to and its consumption by the black population illegal. That ban was not lifted until 1962.

In 1949, SAB embarked on a massive expansion program, and brewing operations began in Bulawayo (Rhodesia) and in Zambia. In 1955, SAB built a new brewery in Johannesburg, just about the time when the government introduced a heavy beer tax. This led to a drop in consumption, which SAB weathered better than its rivals, Ohlsson’s and Chandlers. SAB acquired them both in 1956, giving them a virtual monopoly of their domestic market. Between 1964 and1966 SAB was granted licenses to brew Guinness, Amstel, and Carling Black Label. It built additional breweries in Botswana and Angola in 1973. By 1990, when the Iron Curtain was coming down, SAB’s total production had surpassed 32 million hectoliters (27,269,373 US bbl), and the company embarked on its first acquisitions outside southern Africa. It bought a brewery in Hungary in 1993, followed by the acquisition of the prestigious Pilsner Urquell brewery in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. Then it purchased Lech in Poland and Ursus in Romania. Then came the grand coup: In 2002, it was able to purchase Miller Brewing in the United States from Phillip Morris for USD 5.55 billion, which made the new company, SABMiller, the world’s second largest brewer.

See also sabmiller.