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South African Breweries’ Castle Lager started as a way to quench the thirst of hopeful gold prospectors in 1890s Johannesburg. Today, it is a household name and carries the title of South Africa’s National Beer.
However, very little is known about the man behind the brand – Englishman Charles Glass.
IOL reported that Glass had brewed beer for British troops in India. When he arrived in South Africa in the 1880s, he saw an opportunity in the Witwatersrand Gold Rush.
After noticing a gap in the market, Glass started selling beers – Castle Lager – to all the prospectors who descended on Joburg in hopes of capitalising on the major gold discovery.
His beer soon became popular amongst the miners, and in 1889, one of Johannesburg’s early newspapers, The Digger’s News, declared it “a phenomenal success”.
Following this success, Glass looked into starting his own brewery company. However, while he had brewing and management skills, Glass lacked the capital to do so.
He found funding from two early venture capitalists – Johannesburg pioneer HB Marshall and Jim Welsh – who operated a coach service between Ladysmith and Barberton.
With their help, Glass established Castle Brewery in 1888, with Castle Lager as its flagship product. It covered eight stands in Marshall’s Township, Johannesburg, and was a rapid success.
Around the same time, Frederick Mead established the Natal Brewery Syndicate in Natal. He soon realised that the Witwatersrand was the most important market in the country at that point.
“After a couple of due diligences, Mead decided he liked the taste of Castle and initiated takeover talks with Glass that in the long run had a very material impact on the share price of the combined brewer,” the publication explained.
In 1892, Glass sold his shares to Mead, who then formed a new company called South African Union Breweries.
A few years later, in 1895, South African Breweries (SAB) was established on the foundations laid by Charles Glass.
Ashburton Investments said the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) received its first industrial counter when SAB was listed in 1897.
In the 1950s, SAB acquired two of its South African competitors: Chandlers Union Breweries and Ohlsson’s Cape Breweries, established by Norwegian Anders Ohlsson, who created Lion Lager.
This enabled the company to garner over 90% of the South African beer market and signalled the start of an acquisition drive that would put SAB on the global beer map.
In the 1990s, SAB expanded into Africa, China and Central and Eastern Europe.
By the end of the 1990s, SAB had moved its primary listing from the JSE to London to access increased capital to fund future acquisitions.
In the early 2000s, SAB entered into a strategic partnership with Castel’s African beverage operations.
Ashburton explained that Castel is a French family-run business that produced beer and bottled Coca-Cola in Africa.
In 2002, SAB acquired US-based Miller Brewing Company and changed the name to SABMiller.
An even bigger change came for the company in 2016 when SAB – a wholly-owned subsidiary of SABMiller at the time – was sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewing company, for £69 billion.
Today, SAB is home to some of South Africa’s most beloved beer and other alcohol brands, including Castle Lager, Carling Black Label, Castle Lite and Brutal Fruit.
SAB currently operates multiple breweries, malt plants, and agricultural operations in South Africa.
In 2022, the company invested R920 million into its Prospecton and Ibhayi breweries, supporting over 24,000 jobs throughout the beer-making process.
This is part of SAB’s total investment in the South African economy of R4.5 billion, with the overall goal of creating 10,000 jobs in the country.
SAB employs 5,657 people directly in South Africa. The total value chain is estimated to support over 140,000 jobs among its 3,739 suppliers and 1,277 farmers.
This was all made possible by Glass, who saw an opportunity amidst the chaos and hopefulness of the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and made a beer that is beloved by South Africans to this day.
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