Jamaica: Red Stripe one step closer to introducing cassava into its beers

Jamaica’s Red Stripe brewery is one step closer to introducing cassava into its brew, now that it has broken ground for the construction of its 20-root-tonne cassava starch processing plant, Jamaica Observer reported on March 10.

The company has pumped US$800,000 (J$92 million) into the facility, which will allow Red Stripe to begin production of its flagship beer with at least five per cent cassava by the end of the year. Over time, Red Stripe hopes to have up to 40 per cent of locally grown cassava replacing the imported barley that is used in the production of beer.

The brewing company has also secured a lease contract for an additional 250 acres of land at Wallen, St Catherine, bringing its total cassava farmland under production to 286 acres.

“We are in the first phase so the 14.2 hectares that we have planted along with the 20-root-tonne factory that is being installed as we speak, we would have spent for this first pilot about US$1.6 million,” Red Stripe’s Managing Director Cedric Blair stated at the lease-signing agreement with the Agro-Invest Corporation on March 10.

11 March, 2015