Twenty years ago the drinks menu at a lodge near Bwindi was simple: Nile Special lager, Uganda Waragi, and whatever soft drinks the supply truck had delivered that week. Today the picture is considerably more interesting. Uganda has developed a genuine craft beverage culture—local breweries producing ambitious ales and stouts, artisan spirits, small-batch coffee liqueurs, and a revival of traditional fermented drinks that had been quietly sidelined by commercial beverages. For travellers who pay attention to what is in their glass, the region around Bwindi and the journey to reach it offer discoveries well beyond the standard safari sundowner.
Nile Special: the old faithful
Nile Special Lager has been brewed in Uganda since 1956 and remains the country’s best-known commercial beer—a clean, light, slightly sweet lager that is everywhere, always cold, and exactly right after a hot afternoon game drive or a muddy gorilla trek. Brewed by Nile Breweries (a subsidiary of AB InBev since 2001), Nile Special occupies the same cultural position in Uganda that Tusker holds in Kenya or Kilimanjaro in Tanzania: the default beer of East African hospitality. It is not craft. It is not complex. It is cold, familiar, and deeply contextual—some beers taste best precisely because of where you are drinking them.
Club Pilsener: the people’s beer
Club Pilsener, brewed by Uganda Breweries (Diageo subsidiary), is Nile Special’s main domestic rival—marginally lighter, slightly more carbonated, and arguably better chilled. The great Club versus Nile Special debate is a staple of Ugandan social life, with passionate advocates on both sides and no settled answer. At most lodges and restaurants in southwestern Uganda both will be available; at roadside bars and local restaurants Club is often more prevalent. Either way, at a price point of roughly 3,000 to 5,000 Ugandan shillings (less than $2) for a 500ml bottle, Ugandan lager represents extraordinary value for the quality delivered.
Uganda’s craft beer revolution
Kampala’s craft beer scene has grown rapidly since the late 2010s, driven by a young, urban, internationally connected consumer base and a small community of microbrewers experimenting with local ingredients. The Forbidden Fruit Brewery produces a range of ales and stouts that have earned a following well beyond the capital. Antidote Brewing in Kampala offers an IPA brewed with locally sourced ingredients. Legit Brewing Company has developed a following for its amber ales and seasonal releases. These Kampala-based craft beers occasionally appear on the menus of higher-end lodges in southwestern Uganda, particularly those catering to international visitors who specifically request local craft options. If you are staying at a premium lodge near Bwindi, it is worth asking the bar staff whether any Ugandan craft beers are available—the answer is increasingly yes.
Uganda Waragi: the national spirit
Uganda Waragi is the country’s flagship distilled spirit—a gin-family product made from sugar cane distillate flavoured with botanicals including juniper. The commercial Uganda Waragi brand (produced by Uganda Breweries/Diageo) comes in a distinctive blue 200ml sachet that is ubiquitous across the country, sold at roadside kiosks, bus parks, and village shops. It is strong, affordable, and potent—the spirit that lubricated road construction camps and market day celebrations for generations. A premium bottled version is also available, better suited to mixing in cocktails. At lodges it is typically served as a long drink with tonic and lime—a genuinely excellent combination that the local flavour profile suits perfectly. Uganda Waragi gin and tonic at sunset on a Bwindi lodge veranda is one of the great uncomplicated pleasures of East African travel.
Banana beer: tonto and the fermented tradition
Long before commercial brewing arrived in Uganda, the banana—cultivated in more varieties here than almost anywhere on Earth—was the basis of a fermented beverage culture that sustained social life across the Great Lakes region. Tonto is a traditional banana beer made from ripe bananas that are peeled, fermented briefly with sorghum flour as a fermenting agent, and consumed within a few days while still slightly fizzy and active. It is sweet, slightly tart, low in alcohol compared to commercial beer, and deeply tied to ceremony: tonto is the drink of welcome, of celebration, of communal gathering. Some lodges and community tourism programmes offer tonto as part of a cultural experience. If you are offered it, accept—and if you find it too sweet or unfamiliar in your first sip, persevere. Context transforms flavour.
Obushera: the millet drink
Obushera is a traditional fermented millet or sorghum beverage—thicker than tonto, more sour, with a nutritional density that made it a staple of daily diet across the Kigezi highlands for generations. It is made from malted millet or sorghum steeped in water, fermented for two to three days, then strained and served either fresh or after further fermentation. The result is a cloudy, slightly fizzy, slightly alcoholic drink that tastes somewhere between sourdough bread and a mild kombucha. Obushera has been recognised by ethnobotanists as a genuinely nutritious food—rich in B vitamins, probiotics, and complex carbohydrates—and there is growing interest in its commercialisation as a health beverage. In its traditional form it is shared from a large clay pot with long communal straws at celebrations and ceremonies.
Coffee liqueur and artisan spirits
Uganda is one of Africa’s leading coffee producers—Arabica grown in the highlands of Mount Elgon and Robusta from the shores of Lake Victoria. Ugandan coffee has begun attracting serious specialty attention internationally, and some of that energy has flowed into artisan spirits production. A small number of craft distillers are experimenting with coffee-forward liqueurs and spirits using Ugandan beans—the combination of high-altitude-grown coffee and locally produced sugar cane distillate produces products with genuine character. These are not yet widely distributed in southwestern Uganda lodges but are available at specialty shops in Kampala and some premium lodges that specifically curate Ugandan products for their bars. If you are passing through Kampala before or after your trek, the Kampala suburb of Nakasero and the boutique shops of the Village Mall and Garden City carry some of these products.
Fresh juice and non-alcoholic options
For non-drinkers or those observing the sensible pre-trek alcohol limit (most guides recommend minimal or no alcohol the night before a demanding hike), Uganda’s fresh juice culture is excellent. Passion fruit grows across the highlands of the southwest and produces a juice of extraordinary intensity—tart, floral, and deeply aromatic. Pineapple juice is equally excellent. Tamarind and hibiscus drinks appear on some lodge menus. Fresh-squeezed orange juice is available in most towns. And Uganda’s tea—black tea brewed strong and served with full-cream milk and sugar in the Ugandan style—is one of the great simple pleasures of the country. The altitude-grown teas from the highland estates around Fort Portal and the slopes of the Rwenzori produce a cup with genuine complexity. Start your trek morning with a cup. Return and finish it with the stories you bring back from the forest.
