Last week, South African Breweries (SAB) announced that it may have to destroy the equivalent of 400 million bottles of beer due to alcoholic restrictions imposed by the government during the lockdown.

SAB has around 132 million litres of beer – roughly the equivalent of 400 million bottles of beer – sitting in its tanks, which could not be bottled due to the restrictions on alcohol capacity at its breweries. 

While it has not been brewing beer since the start of the lockdown, some staff have been fermenting and bottling alcohol. It takes up to 21 days to produce the beer before it has to be bottled.

Lockdown regulations meant it couldn’t transport beer to its depots.

SAB is not legally allowed to store brewed beer at its brewery facilities above a certain capacity, which it reached last week. The company said it would have to start dumping beer to comply with the legal limits.

On Tuesday, SAB got the permission it needs to move beer. The company said that it will work with the police to secure the alcohol while in transit.