ONE of Indonesia’s newest brands of beer, Prost, traces its ancestry back to 1948 when Chandra Djojonegoro, a businessman, started selling a “health tonic”, known as Anggur Orang Tua, from the back of a bright-blue lorry at night markets in the coastal city of Semarang. A troupe of dancing dwarves would pull in the punters, while Djojonegoro peddled shots of what was, in essence, a fortified herbal wine to fishermen. It kept them warm during the chilly nights in the Java Sea.
The tonic is still sold in bottles with distinctive labels depicting an old Chinese man with a thick white beard. The company that makes it now produces a vast range of consumer goods, and Prost beer is the latest addition to its range. It is made in a $50m brewery that opened in August 2015, filled with shiny stainless-steel machinery from Germany. Thomas Dosy, chief executive of the subsidiary that produces Prost, says that given Orang Tua’s history in the booze business it was natural for the company to move into Indonesia’s $1bn-a-year beer market.
It will not be straightforward. Conservative Muslim groups have become more assertive. Only months before...Continue reading
from Asia http://ift.tt/2hV6Bsz
EmoticonEmoticon