Brakina (SOBIDO)

Commercial Brewery in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 🇧🇫
Owned by Castel Group

Established in 1960

Contact
Kossodo Zone Industrielle, 01 BP 345 Ouaga 01, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Description
L’activité brassicole au Burkina Faso est presque aussi vieille que l’indépendance du pays. En effet, dès les années 1960, la brasserie nationale est créée sous l’appellation BRAVOLTA. Au départ, l’entreprise n’était qu’un simple embouteilleur qui, du fait de sa réussite, s’est mue en producteur de boissons. Dans les années 1977, naquit la SOVOBRA qui porta ainsi à deux le nombre d’unités portée par la BGI (Brasseries Glacières Internationales). En 1984 avec l’avènement de la Révolution d’Août 1983, la BRAVOLTA devient BRAKINA et la SOVOBRA, elle, devient SOBBRA. C’est au début des années 1990 que le groupe français CASTEL acquiert les deux unités. En 1992, pour mieux insuffler sa nouvelle dynamique, le Groupe procède à une fusion-absorption des deux sociétés et naquit la BRAKINA sous sa forme actuelle. Une équipe et un réseau de distribution à la pointe de la satisfaction Avec 99,02% de son personnel de nationalité burkinabè, la Brasserie produit au minimum 600 millions de bouteilles par an distribuées par sa filiale SO.DI.BO (Société de Distribution de Boissons). La SO.DI.BO dispose de 2 principaux pôles de distributions implantées respectivement à Ouagadougou, (dans la zone d’Activités Diverses ZAD et au grand marché) et Bobo-Dioulasso, deuxième ville du pays (à Lafiabougou) et d’autres dépôts à l’intérieur du pays à savoir Koupéla et Koudougou. En plus des produits de son portefeuille que sont Beaufort Lager, Castel Beer, Flag Spéciale, Brakina et Sobbbra dans le volet bières et la gamme Youki, XXL Energy et Lafi dans celui des boissons non alcoolisées, la SODIBO demeure aussi le distributeur exclusif des marques Guinness et Coca-Cola. Elle reste aussi le distributeur de la marque de vin CASTEL appartenant à la famille Castel avec 3 dépôts dont un à Ouagadougou Avenue Loudin et deux à Bobo Dioulasso (à l’usine et vers le grand marché). Afin de mieux répondre à la demande des consommateurs, la SO.DI.BO dispose d’une grande force de vente couvrant toute l’étendue du territoire. Des commerciaux présents à Ouagadougou, Bobo Dioulasso, Koupéla, Koudougou, Ouahigouya, Banfora et Gaoua assurent la relation entre Entreprise-Grossistes-Détaillants, aussi ils veillent au respect de la politique de l’entreprise et assurent la couverture des villes voisines lors des missions de visite.

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5.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Thnx to Bartlebier. Pours clear blonde, small white head. Smell is intense, sweet, chemical maltyness. Taste is malty, sweet, aromatic. Lager yeast. OK, bit chemical.

Tried on 19 Feb 2017 at 04:44


3.3
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3

Thank you for sharing Bartlebier! 650 ml. bottle sampled @ Bruges Beer Festival 2017. 100 % clear golden, industrial lager white head. Nose is pure vegetables in the worst fashion, DMS, just pure awful cooked vegetables. Taste is sparkling, thin, watery, overly metallic, awfully mineral tasting with cooked vegetables. Thin, metallic, watery. Rubbish. Burkina Faso appears to be another poor country where the beer scene is dominated by a western industrial brewery churning out garbage. Indicative of many other things for sure.

Tried from Bottle on 08 Feb 2017 at 12:38


3.4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 2.5

Imported from my RateBeer account as Brakina Bière du Burkina (by Brakina (BGI)):
Aroma: 4/10, Appearance: 2/5, Taste: 2/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 5/20, MyTotalScore: 1.6/5

5/II/17 - 65cl bottle @ Brugs Bierfestival - BB: n/a (2017-153) Thanks to bartlebier for sharing the bottle!

Clear pale blond beer, small irregular off-white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: lots and lots of marijuana, weed, then dirty, grains, wet cardboard. MF: soft carbon, medium to light body. Taste: very malty, grains, bit sweet, car board, sourish. Aftertaste: grains, bit dirty, grassy bitterness.

Tried from Bottle on 05 Feb 2017 at 17:02


4.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5

330ml bottle [Thanks Aziz for this one and thereby supplying me with the whole range of Brakina brews!]. Clear, yellow-ish golden colour with small to average, thick, frothy to creamy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Slighty earthy-musty, grainy and strawy aroma. Taste is minimally sweet pale malty, minimally strawy and grainy, slightly bitter, hoppy counterweight with grassy, mineral and even floral touch; Probably the most accurate, cleanest Brakina Pale Lager.

Tried from Bottle on 07 Dec 2016 at 14:26


4.6
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5

Bottle from Ruben, thanks! The Burkinese edition of this brand, ironically acquired by a company named after and started by a French wine producer, a guy named Pierre Castel who apparently still runs this international company. Thick, snow white lacing head over a clear golden blonde beer - looks exactly like 99% of mass-produced standard lagers throughout the world. Aroma of dry (chicken) grains, wet paper, old cloth, some vague iron and that’s about it. Sweetish, soggy chicken corn prevails in the taste, quickly turning to lightly sourish grains but all very subdued, standard spritzy (but not over-)carbonisation for the style, thin and somewhat metallic mouthfeel, grainy sourishness and corn-like sweetishness keep prevailing in an otherwise neutral environment, though a touch of grassy hop bitterishness is palpable in the end, which otherwise remains watery as expected. I had many a standardized pale lager in my life - especially considering the search for ’country ticks’ on this site - and I will never truly like this style, neither did I twenty-five years ago when I started drinking beer, but admittedly this one is not all bad; it has a more or less balanced flavour profile (for this style at least - and I use the word ’flavour’ in the most neutral sense possible here) and carries at least a trace of hop bitterishness in its finish, obviously not more so than standard pale lagers in western countries, but perhaps a bit more so than in many other African pale lagers I endured so far. In all: really not the worst in its league, whether this has anything to do with its French heritage or not.

Tried from Bottle on 04 Nov 2016 at 18:59


5.3
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Imported from my RateBeer account as Castel Beer (Burkina Faso) (by Brakina (BGI)):
Aroma: 5/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 5/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 10/20, MyTotalScore: 2.6/5

31/X/16 - 33cl bottle @ home - Ster's first Ghentian tasting, BB: 21/VI/17 (2016-1264) Thanks to Alengrin for sharing the bottle!

Clear dark blond beer, small irregular off-white head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: grains, bit sweet, malty, some almonds. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bit malty, grains, sourish touch, soft bitterness. Aftertaste: grains, bit malty, sweet, floral, meh. Not super, but definitely not as bad as a lot of other African beers...

Tried from Bottle on 31 Oct 2016 at 16:11


3.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 5

From a 65 cl bottle, thanks Ruben. Thick, very frothy, moussy, dense and snow white head, very pale golden colour, cristal clear with lively sparkling. Aroma of tinfoil, cardboard, white bread crumbs, some ’sweaty’ grains, wet paper. Simple grain sweetish flavor, bit sourish as well, thin with a minerally touch, medium carbo, metallic in the middle, very light herbal bitterish touch in the end, lightly bready ’feeling’ at the back. Very neutral and in that sense inoffensive.

Tried from Bottle on 18 Sep 2016 at 05:53


4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 5

Burkina’s version of Flag, thanks Ruben for bringing me a large bottle of this beer all the way from Ouagadougou... Slow gushing (the first time I ever see this in a pale lager!), medium thick, moussy, quickly thinning, snow white head, clear and deep (almost ’old’) golden colour with lively sparkling. Weak aroma, hints of dry breakfast cereals and soggy chicken corn, iron, straw, dust, old cardboard. Neutral taste, grainy with only a very low degree of corn sweetishness, thin and slightly oily mouthfeel, bit metallic, medium carbo (on the soft side for this style). A faint grassy touch shows up in the end, only very mildly bittering. Actually I expected worse: this is as neutral a lager as it gets, but at least it does not contain too much disturbing corn sweetness which is omnipresent in standard pale lagers throughout the world; I can imagine drinking this ice cold under a searing African sun can be adequately quenching. Drinkable, if you do not expect anything else than that.

Tried from Bottle on 11 Sep 2016 at 06:47


4.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5

650ml bottle [Thanks again; Monsieur Aziz; for the import!]. Clear, yellow-ish golden colour with average, frothy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Grassy hoppy aroma, minimally strawy, grainy background. Taste is slightly bitter, grassy hoppy, minimally metallic, pale malty background with a strawy touch, subtle sweetness; prickling, almost lively carbonation.

Tried from Bottle on 04 Aug 2016 at 11:27


4.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5

650ml bottle [due to Aziz’ tremendous effort, thank you very much again!]. Clear, yellow-ish golden colour with average, frothy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Strawy and grainy aroma, a touch of hay, cuatious, slightly grassy hoppy overtones. Taste is initially grainy and strawy, later with a good dosis of bitter hop, unable to disguise the strawy undertones completely; additionally a very cautious touch of lemon, some cardboard. Of course not really good, but animate, not fully monotonous, obviously a dedicated effort to make something out of inferior ingredients.

Tried from Bottle on 14 Jun 2014 at 11:06