Myths and Rumours
Myth - Chain Letter Hoax
An e-mail message has been doing the rounds for some months in South Africa, promising free products from the company (usually "12 cases of your favourite SAB product"). The e-mail resembles a 'chain' letter and promises the products if it is was forwarded to 'ten friends', and then copied to a company which SAB has never heard of or had no dealings with.
We'd like to warn consumers that this is not a legitimate promotion by the company and SAB never takes part in so-called 'chain letter' activities. We'd like to ask consumers please to treat this as a scam and in no way connected to SAB.
Beer in bottles tastes different to that in cans
The beer is exactly the same in both bottles and cans. Bottles however can develop a sun struck flavour if exposed to the sun for a period of time.
Beer in cans can be contaminated by rat droppings during transit and/or storage
It is almost impossible for SAB's cans to be harmed in this way.
All SAB's cans are pasteurised after filling and then shrink-wrapped in units of six before leaving the breweries. The wrapping is only removed by the consumer after purchase. In the case of on-premise outlets such as hotels and clubs, the cans are unpacked and refrigerated after delivery. This means that contamination during storage or in transit is virtually impossible.
Castle Lager gives me heartburn or indigestion
The base contents (Barley, Hops and Water) of Castle Lager are the same as other beers and should not affect you differently. However, if you drink cold beer directly out of the can or bottle you are more likely to get heartburn. The reason for this is that the carbon dioxide stays in solution in cold beers and by drinking directly out of the can or bottle the gas does not have a chance to break out of the solution. To enjoy your beer to the fullest, we recommend pouring the beer into a glass before drinking to get a proper gas breakout.
Castle Lager is very popular and in great demand. You must be using chemicals to accelerate the process?
This is one of the favourite urban legends and has no truth to it at all. The short answer is No!; we do not use chemicals and, in any event, it is impossible to speed up the brewing process by adding chemicals. We use an internationally accepted brewing process and have more than enough capacity at our breweries across South Africa to meet the demand for the great taste of Castle. It takes over seven weeks to go from barley to Castle!
Castle Lager gives me a headache but other beers do not
The base contents (Barley, Hops and Water) of Castle Lager are the same as other beers and therefore, should not affect you in any way differently. But remember, any alcohol in excess might give you a headache.
I've heard that you put chemicals in your beer
One of the most popular urban legends, but the short answer is no, of course we don't! We brew all our beers with natural and conventional ingredients such as malt, barley, hops, maize and yeast. We use only the finest ingredients worldwide and our quality standards are amongst the highest in the world. Our beers have won many international awards and the judges check the integrity of the beer very thoroughly indeed. There you have it: we DO NOT add chemicals to any of our beers, full stop. Nor will we.
Some people say you put additives in your beers.
We do not use additives in our beers, and all of our ingredients are natural and of a world class standard.
Some of your competitors claim they brew their beers according to the Reinheitsgebot, which they claim is the only pure way to brew beer. If this is so, why does SAB not do the same?
It is interesting to note that the Reinheitsgebot, or German Traditions, originated in Bavaria in 1516. The law said that beer should be made exclusively from malt, hops, and water. This law was introduced as a means of collecting more taxes from people - beer was being made from odd ingredients that were not as highly taxable as was malt and hops. In the 19th century when yeast was discovered, it was added to the German law governing beer production for domestic use.
Less than 2 percent of the world's beers are made according to the Reinheidsgebot, and this in no way means that they are then of higher quality. 98% of beers use a small proportion of natural ingredients such as rice or maize to produce a lighter and crisper taste, and in South Africa our taste and climate is definitely suited to an easy drinking beer.
You say that your beers are natural/food products but food deteriorates after a while and beer has a shelf-life of up to 12 months. How do you maintain the shelf-life of your beer?
Inherently beer is naturally more stable than most food products. Moreover, we pasteurize our beer after packaging to ensure that for up to 12 months, our beer retains its quality.
|
