Windhoek
The Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group proudly announced that Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) – a subsidiary of the O&L Group – earned top recognition at the internationally established Deutsche Landwirtschafts Gesellschaft (DLG) Quality Evaluation.
For the tenth consecutive year the globally recognized and consumed beer brand, Windhoek Lager, has been awarded Gold for outstanding quality at this annual platform. Other NBL brands that also earned Gold medals include premium beer brand Windhoek Draught, as well as Windhoek Light and Tafel Lager.
Only beer brands that are brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot of 1516 are allowed to participate. The test examines the quality of the product against taste, analytical and biological standards.
NBL Supply Chain Manager, Hans Herrmann, said: “Platforms such as that of the DLG Quality Evaluation are critical to maintain consistency in quality. The past years, with the great quality, we have been tapped on the shoulders by this platform, which has simply been confirmation that we are doing the right thing. This yearly check is extremely important. It pushes brewers to aim for ultimate quality, and of course drives NBL to keep focused on delivering only the best to our consumers under the Reinheitsgebot.”
According to NBL Head Brewer, Christian Müller, quality is top priority. “NBL is focused on remaining a leader in quality products, not only locally, but also internationally. The DLG Quality Evaluation is a top level judging platform which tests agricultural products and also beer, if brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot,” said Müller.
Meanwhile, NBL’s ‘Hansa Urbock’ beer was awarded a Silver medal at the annual 2015 European Beer Star Awards late last year. This international competition in which almost 45 countries participated is a beer competition that started in 2003. Consideration is given to types of beer which have their origins in Europe. All breweries can participate: local, regional, national and worldwide operating breweries, not only from Europe but from all countries.
The tasting is carried out by an expert jury of independent beer experts from across the world. The yardstick is not the technical laboratory analysis, but a rating from the consumer’s viewpoint of sense and taste. The aim of the blind tasting is to find the beers which best fulfil the type of criteria of each category and whose taste as well as quality are the most convincing.
In each category, the three best beers are awarded a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal. Less than three prizes will be awarded if there are no three beers which meet the specified quality and category standards.
The 12th edition of the internationally renowned 2015 European Beer Star competition again stayed on the winning track. With 1957 beers from 45 countries, the competition saw an increase of 21% in entrants compared to the previous year.
In its category ‘German-Style Dunkler Bock’, NBL’s Urbock beer was awarded the Silver medal.
“A traditional dark beer known as ‘Bock’ beer, Urbock is brewed to perfection and distinguished by its rich Munich barley malt, giving it a fully bodied malty flavour. Urbock is only brewed once per year and is therefore only available in May in limited quantity,” Müller said.