# Burundi

Country page of DA Caps, a collection of beer bottle caps. Web page: https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country/bi/info

- Official name: Republic of Burundi
- Local name: Republika y'Uburundi
- Caps in the collection: 3 (https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country_caps/183)
- Brands: 2

## Beer in Burundi

Burundians brewed long before there was a brewery. Urwarwa is banana beer: ripe bananas are kneaded with spear-grass into a clear juice, umutobe, which is filtered, diluted and fermented with roasted red sorghum. Impeke and the lighter ikiyama are sorghum beers, acid and bitter, made at home from sorghum, maize and cassava flour; at celebrations guests gather round one big jar and dip their straws in together as a sign of unity. A survey of the region lists urwarwa, insongo, impeke and kanyanga as the traditional beers of Burundi. Sorghum was the symbolic crop of the monarchy, which lasted until 1966, before the rice and maize brought by the German and Belgian colonisers replaced it as a staple.

Industrial beer came with the Belgians, who took Ruanda-Urundi from the Germans in 1916 and held it as a League of Nations mandate and then a UN trust territory until 1962. In 1955 the managers of the Belgian Congo breweries, then run by the Brasseries de Léopoldville (now Bralima), decided to build a brewery at Usumbura, today's Bujumbura, to serve Ruanda-Urundi and eastern Congo. The Brasserie du Ruanda-Urundi brewed its first Primus on 23 December 1955. A university thesis says the business had started in 1951, selling Primus from Bukavu and Belgian imports. At independence the company was split: Bralima stayed in the Congo, Brarudi, the Brasseries et Limonaderies du Burundi, went to Burundi and Bralirwa to Rwanda.

Brarudi became a bottler for Coca-Cola in 1966, with a soft-drink plant at Gitega. In 1975 the Burundian state took 40% and Banque Bruxelles Lambert kept 60%, which Heineken bought in 1982; the two are the shareholders still. A second brewery, Bragita at Gitega, begun by Stella Artois, was finished in 1984. Amstel, first brewed there, moved to Bujumbura in 1994 and Gitega kept Primus; Nyongera, launched on 18 February 2014, is brewed there too. The brewery stayed open through the civil war: in 1996 the Mail & Guardian called it the bedrock of the economy, with beer taxes the largest source of state revenue in 1995 and perhaps half of it in 1996, the Bujumbura plant guarded by soldiers and Primus lorries waved through rebel roadblocks. In 2005, its fiftieth year, Brarudi put in an automated bottling line and modernised again in 2007. It is the only industrial brewer; its rivals are traditional beer and imports.

Shortages have marked the years since. In August 2017 Amstel 65 cl ran short, which Brarudi put down to high consumption and a banana virus that had hit traditional beer; Amstel and Amstel Bock were scarce again in July 2019, and exports to Congo through Rumonge port resumed in January 2020 after six months. In 2024, by its own statement, the company lacked the foreign currency to buy malt, and a Brarudi manager says it stopped some activities for about two weeks that year; drinkers turned to strong local drinks such as Kick and Sapor. Amstel Bright, a maize-based beer, came out in March 2025, and in June 2025 Burundi Eco found Amstel 65 cl in bars at 15,000 to 20,000 francs against 3,500 officially. On 13 August 2026 Brarudi admitted that it exports beer to Congo to earn currency: it needs 8 million dollars a month, and an Amstel sold there brings about three times the Burundian price. On 26 September 2026 the trade ministry suspended the production and sale of locally made strong drinks, fortified wines, mixed drinks and liquors; beer was not named. No craft brewery was found.

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Brarudi Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brarudi_Brewery)
- [Niyinganje: Etude de la dégradation d'une bière fraîche à Bujumbura, chapitre II: l'historique de la Brarudi (Université du Burundi, 2016)](https://www.memoireonline.com/02/17/9660/m_Etude-de-la-degradation-dune-biere-frache-au-cours-de-sa-consommation-en-mairie-de-Bujumbura7.html)
- [Mail & Guardian: Beer, bedrock of Burundi's economy (1996)](https://mg.co.za/article/1996-08-23-beer-bedrock-of-burundis-economy)
- [Euronews: Sorghum, a forgotten ancestral grain from Burundi (2023)](https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/01/27/podcast-sorghum-a-forgotten-ancestral-grain-from-burundi)
- [ProMusa: The beer bananas of East Africa](https://promusa.org/blogpost479-The-beer-bananas-of-East-Africa)
- [Burundi Travel: Burundi drinks, a guide to local beer, wine and juices (2024)](https://burunditravel.bi/en/les-boissons-burundaises-un-voyage-gustatif-a-la-decouverte-des-saveurs-locales/)
- [University of Liège: Factors affecting traditional beer production in Rwanda, a case study of banana and sorghum brews](https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/347384/1/Factors-affecting-traditional-beer-production-in-Rwanda-A-case-study-of-banana-and-sorghum-brews%20%2812%29.pdf)
- [Iwacu: Amstel beer consumers and sellers complain about its shortage (2017)](https://www.iwacu-burundi.org/englishnews/amstel-beer-consumers-and-sellers-complain-about-its-shortage/)
- [Iwacu: Scarcity of Amstel Beer and Amstel Bock in Bujumbura (2019)](https://www.iwacu-burundi.org/englishnews/scarcity-of-amstel-beer-and-amstel-bock-in-bujumbura/)
- [Iwacu: Export of Brarudi products resumes in Rumonge port (2020)](https://www.iwacu-burundi.org/englishnews/export-of-brarudi-products-resumes-in-rumonge-port/)
- [Indundi Culture: Quoi boire en l'absence de bière de la Brarudi (2024)](https://indundiculture.com/quoi-boire-en-labsence-de-biere-de-la-brarudi/)
- [Burundi Eco: Amstel Bright inonde le marché (2025)](https://burundi-eco.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Journal-BE-n°-654-de-vendredi-28-Mars-2025._d.pdf)
- [Burundi Eco: Primus et Amstel introuvables, les consommateurs consternés (2025)](https://burundi-eco.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Journal-Burundi-Eco-nr-665-du-vendredi-13-Juin-2025-Mailing.pdf)
- [Breaking Burundi: BRARUDI acknowledges beer exports to DRC amid domestic shortages (2026)](https://breakingburundi.com/burundi-brarudi-acknowledges-beer-exports-drc-domestic-shortages/)
- [Breaking Burundi: Burundi suspends production and sale of locally made strong alcoholic drinks (2026)](https://breakingburundi.com/burundi-suspends-production-and-sale-of-locally-made-strong-alcoholic-drinks/)
- [Archontology: Burundi, Polity Style 1962-2026](https://archontology.org/nations/burundi/01_polity.php)
- [Wikipedia: Ruanda-Urundi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruanda-Urundi)
- [Wikipedia: Flag of Burundi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Burundi)
- [Wikimedia Commons: Flag of Burundi (1962-1966).svg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Burundi_(1962%E2%80%931966).svg)

## Breweries (1)

- [Brarudi-Burundi Breweries and Soft Drink Manufacturs](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/2338.md) — 3 caps, 1955–