Nepalese Gorkha Brewery expands with Steinecker brewhouse

Nepal and beer – this sounds a pretty exotic combination at first hearing. And so it is, because here on the southern slopes of the Himalayas beer is still a long way away from being a universally popular beverage.

It was not until the late 20th century that packaged beer was actually introduced into Nepal. Per capita consumption among the almost 30 million Nepalese is in the region of 1.5 liters: a not inconsiderable proportion of total consumption goes down the throats of the numerous trekking tourists from all over the world, who visit the country to enjoy its spectacular scenery – particularly the Himalayas, and the country’s cultural and spiritual diversity.

Picturesquely situated on the bend of a river in the middle of Nepal’s fertile rice belt, the Gorkha Brewery produces beer for Nepal as the country’s market leader. Its output is growing steadily, a good sign for a brewery. In mid-2010, Gorkha started operation with a new, second Steinecker brewhouse and with expansions to its filtration, fermenting and storage cellars.

Gorkha Brewery The brewery dates back to 1989. Till that date, there were merely a handful of local breweries, with a total output of less than 75,000 hectoliters a year. Back then, Gorkha was designed as a turnkey project con the Danish conglomerate Danbrew for a capacity of 50,000 hectoliters, and equipped predominantly with Krones/Steinecker kit in the bottling hall and the brewhouse. The majority of the stock was held by a local group of investors; Danbrew and a Danish bank owned a 45-per-cent stake. Technical Director UK Dayananda joined Gorkha in November 1989 as a representative of the "Technical management agreement of Danbrew Ltd. Denmark" to start up production of Tuborg De Luxe beer and can beer. A Sri Lankan citizen, he had previously attended the Doemens College in Germany, with internships at Löwenbräu and Spatenbräu in Munich, before heading the McCallum Brewery on Sri Lanka for several years. The first beer from the new facility arrived on the market in 1990: Tuborg de Luxe. Five years later the Danish Carlsberg Group also launched the Carlsberg brand. In 1997, Carlsberg converted its minority holding into a 50:50 joint venture with the Khetan Group, a Nepalese family firm. To the present day, it is still the most successful joint venture in Nepal’s entire economy. In 2000, the Gorkha Brewery won the Golden Award from Carlsberg, a benchmark prize for outstanding quality and efficiency among 64 Carlsberg brewing facilities worldwide, bestowed only once every four years. In 2004, the brewery then signed a licensing agreement with the San Miguel Brewery in the Philippines, for bottling and marketing the San Miguel brand. In 2009 Gorkha Brewery was awarded again the "Company of the Year" for its excellent performance as compared to other Carlsberg breweries by Carlsberg International.