Cuca (also called Cuca BGI) is a brand of
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
manufactured by Companhia União de Cervejas de Angola ("United Beer Company of Angola")
in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
.
[
]
History
Cuca beer was established in 1947, while Angola was still an overseas territory of Portugal, under the name CUCA - Companhia União de Cervejas de Angola, SARL, with a capital of 5,000
''contos'', being a daughter company of the Portuguese
Central de Cervejas
Sociedade Central de Cervejas (SCC; full name: SCC – Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas, S.A.) is a Portuguese brewery, founded in 1934. Its main output is the Sagres brand of beers. The company has been controlled by Heineken since Ap ...
.
Already after the independence of Angola, on May 26, 1976, the Government confiscated and nationalized Cuca, after taking possession of the Commission for Restructuring the brewing industry.
Cuca is now owned by the French
Castel Group
Castel Group (French Groupe Castel) is a French beverage company. It was established in 1949 by Pierre Castel, who continues to run the company as a family-owned concern.
Castel is the largest French wine producer and owns the biggest French an ...
. It is manufactured in
Luanda
Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...
[ and in ]Catumbela
Catumbela is a city and municipality of the Benguela province in Angola. The municipality had a population of 175,805 in 2014.
History
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Portuguese built ''Forte de São Pedro'' to establish themselv ...
, in the municipality of Lobito
Lobito is a Municipalities of Angola, municipality in Angola. It is located in Benguela Province, on the Atlantic Coast north of the Catumbela Estuary. The Lobito municipality had a population of 393,079 in 2014.
History
The city was founded in ...
, Benguela province
Benguela ( umb, Luombaka Volupale) is a province of Angola, situated in the west of the country. It lies on the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the provinces of Cuanza Sul, Namibe, Huila, and Huambo. The province has an area of and its capital is ...
.[ The Benguela production amounts to 60 000 bars per day.][
]
Foreign exports
Besides Angola, Cuca beer is also sold in Portugal, Mozambique, United States, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
In Namibia
In Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, Cuca beer was illegal from the mid-1970s to the 1980s, yet it was widely available in the northern parts of the country, in Ovamboland
Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people.
The term originally referred to the parts ...
and Kavango. Bars there became known as "Cuca shops". Around the time of Namibian independence, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...
was said to have offered free beer in Cuca shops, in an attempt to lure voters to its side.
See also
* Beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
* Alcoholic beverage
References
External links
An old Cuca beer label
The production process of Cuca beer, in Portuguese
{{Alcoholic drinks
Food and drink companies based in Angola
Beer brands
Beer in Angola
Angolan brands
Products introduced in 1947
1947 establishments in Angola