Craft beer in Tanzania:
Crafty Dee's Brewing Company
Craft beer in Tanzania: Crafty Dee's Brewing Company
Have you ever visited Tanzania, or tasted Tanzanian beer? During our travels in East Africa we made a short trip from our “home base” Nairobi in Kenya to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar in Tanzania, and as always, were on a hunt for local craft beer! There are not many artisan breweries in Tanzania, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t quality beer available – if you ever travel to Dar es Salaam, a warm recommendation to head to Crafty Dee’s Brewing Company!
Quality beers from Dar es Salaam
Crafty Dee’s Brewing Co was founded in 2016 as a one-man project, driven by passion towards craft beer. Tanzanian Chintu Patel had fallen for craft beer during his studies in the US in early 2000’s. After returning to his home country, he wanted to bring something different to the local beer market. He started with small-scale home-brewing and developing recipes, inspired by the world of different beer styles and the global boom of craft beer culture, that back then hadn’t really reached Tanzania yet.
Patel started to sell small amounts of his beers to restaurants as soon as he got a license to do that, and soon made the decision to invest in building an actual brewery. He ordered a brew house from Slovenia and fermenting vessels from Germany, and applied for the needed approvals. The bureaucracy really took its time, and all in all the process took 22 months!
During 2020 Patel rented a plot for the brewery from Masaki, an upper-scale neighborhood north from the Dar es Salaam city center, and the brewery and beer garden was built. He hired a brew master, and finally everything was ready for starting the production. In February 2021 it was time to open the doors for the public, as the first brewpub of Dar es Salaam, and a lot of people came to see what the new place is about! Despite the popularity, it has been a long process to introduce different beer styles and flavors to the public, that is used to drinking only industrial lager beers.
“Welcome to Crafty Dee’s Brewing Company, where innovation meets tradition, and every pour tells a story of skill and dedication. Cheers!”
Crafty Dee’s, that was named after the initial letter of the name of Chintu’s son, brews with a 500-liter brew house and has 8000 liters of fermenting capacity. As the base of the beer they use filtered natural river water. Even though there is local barley available in Tanzania, malting it is a challenge, and thus the small breweries mostly order their malts from Europe. Crafty Dee’s beers are unfiltered, and the ones that are sold straight from the taproom are also unpasteurized. For the first three years the beers were only available in kegs and growlers, but in 2024 the brewery invested in a canning line, and now the beers are also available in beautiful, small 250 ml cans!
Brew pub and beer garden in Masaki
The best place to taste Crafty Dee’s beers is of course the cozy brewpub and beer garden in Masaki. The brewing area is right next to the pub of 130 seats, behind a glass wall. The brewpub with a lush garden is a great venue to enjoy local craft beer and food, to meet people and listen to music.
“Our brewpub serves as a hub for sharing our passion for brewing with enthusiasts from all walks of life. Our commitment to sustainability is reflected in our reduced carbon footprint through our direct-to-consumer business model, from grain to glass, embodied in each pint served to our guests.”
Tasting Crafty Dee's beers
Crafty Dee’s brews artisan beers in a wide variety of styles. The best sellers are Light Lager, Pilsner and Blonde Ale, and the core series includes other classics too, such as Pale Ale, Wheat Beer and IPA. In addition there are seasonal beers and special brews like a Cassava Stout with coffee and fruited beers too.
During our visit in January 2024, we tasted trough all the styles that were available at that moment, and were impressed by the quality of the beers. Crafty Dee’s crew is clearly doing very good job, and their brews have been also awarded several times in The African Beer Cup. Our favorites of the core beers were Dee’s IPA and Dee’s Wheat Beer, and we liked a lot also for example the seasonal Dee’s Dunkel. For those not so into beers, the Crafty Dee’s Apple Cider is a great choice, a lovely cider with a touch of cinnamon! Jump from the links to beer cards with tasting notes!
Crafty Dee’s Brewing Company
Brewpub and Beer Garden
43 Chole Rd, Dar es Salaam
https://www.dees.co.tz/
https://www.instagram.com/deesbrews/
Read also:
Craft beer in Zambia
Craft beer in Uganda
River Brewing Co in Zimbabwe
About Craft Beer Nomads
Craft Beer Nomads is a blog about artisan beer, microbreweries and craft beer culture in Europe and beyond. The blog is written by FinnsAway, a nomad couple who has been on the road since 2017, and enjoys tasting new craft beers all around the world.
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Dee’s Dunkel (Dark Lager)A malty, fruity Dunkel by Crafty Dee's from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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