A right Royal treat

m oyal Beer Company Limited is proud of Royal, its pre

mium European-style lager, Tonga’s biggest-selling beer.

Jl. V Known as Royal, the beer is brewed in the tradition of the German Rheinheitsgebot Beer Law of 1516, which states that beer must only contain four ingredients - malt, hops, yeast and water”, says John Sullivan, the company’s general manager. Malt and hops come from New Zealand and yeast comes from Europe.

Water is treated on the site. All Royal Beer is cold filtered and available as premium or draught. “It is an international beer that takes the best from several worlds to produce a brew that tastes like, well, something with a character all its own. Maybe it’s the water. Tongan water has a high calcium content that is noticeable when you have to spend quite a bit of time to get soap to lather.

“Some brewers believe that beer benefits from some calcium in water. One of the things that our technical people tell us is that water must have a certain amount of calcium and if you take too much of it out it affects the taste of the beer,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan describes the art of making beer to being a chef - as long as you follow the recipe, the beer will be of high quality.

“If you don’t follow specifications, even a good-recipe beer will come out bad.” Royal Beer was formed and commenced operations in May 1987. Fifty per cent is owned by Pripps Bryhherier, a large Swedish brewing and soft drink company.

The production capacity of Royal is over one million litres per annum. The best technology from all over Europe was used when setting up the brewery. Brewhouse equipment came from the United Kingdom, filling and labelling equipment came from Germany and steam production and technology was from Sweden. According to Sullivan, the market share of Royal Beer is half or more than the estimated 1.2-million-litre market avail able with the balance taken up by a variety of imported beers.

Over the next few years, the company wants to regain the 70 per cent market share it held for beer sales before strong compe tition from imports emerged. One of its more popular products is a Royal Premium pasteurised brew with a long shelf life. An unpasteurised draught beer makes up about a third of production and is best consumed fresh. ■

Technology from Europe