CASTLE DOUBLE MALT STORY
Castle Double Malt through the hands of female brewers
One of South Africa’s most iconic brands, Castle Lager has launched South Africa’s first ever double malt Lager with the introduction of Castle Double Malt- the first of its kind. This new addition to the Castle family cements the brand’s iconic status in the industry. At the forefront of the launch of this great brand has been a team of brilliant marketers and brewers led by one of the youngest marketing managers in the industry, 26-year-old Georgina Willows who hails from Kwa-Zulu Natal and joined SAB as a Global Management Trainee in 2018, after completing her honours in Marketing at Stellenbosch University. During her time at SAB, she has worked on the Carling Black Label No Excuse 16 Days of Activism Campaign and also spearheaded the end-to-end packaging upgrade and Corporate Identity of Castle Lager.
However, she lauds the launch of Castle Double Malt as her biggest achievement to date. “It’s been a monumental milestone as I was the lead on developing the look and feel of Castle Double Malt and defining the way the brand shows up and communicates across our different channels and platforms”. The packaging design and the creation of the brand assets was termed “best in class”.
Working close with Georgina on Castle Double Malt has been Kareishma Goodwin, who holds the role of Acceleration Manager for Product Development. Her introduction to the world of beer was cemented at University where she studied Microbiology, and led her to apply for the Brewing Technical Traineeship program at SAB back in 2008. “SAB has been instrumental in my journey as it is where I learnt the ins and outs of brewing science as well as the beginning of a beautiful career. I started off my career at SAB’s Innovation Brewery Chamdor so I had great exposure to the development and roll out of all new products. My role as New Product Development brewer allowed me to lead the technical implementation of many new brands such as Flying Fish and Brutal Fruit”.
The success of Castle Double Malt has been in the overwhelming positive responsive from customers and consumers. “We received positive sentiment in the first three week which translated to 62% which is a huge improvement to our average 42% sentiment following the launch of a brand”, clarified Kareishma.
The launch of Castle Double Malt is testament to SAB’s commitment to being proudly local, by combining two carefully selected South African malts from Caledon and Alrode to bring consumers a superior lager. The combination of these two special malts and the Castle brewmaster’s expertise is the secret to a perfectly balanced beer that has full body, creamy foam, and a rich golden colour.
Instrumental to the success of the launch of the product has been the first ever black and female Brand Director for Castle Lager, Kudzi Mathabire. “I am extremely proud of what we have created here and what we are bringing to the market. We at Castle Lager have 126 years of brewing expertise, which we have channelled into creating the next big thing in beer”.
In order to ensure the superior taste of Castle Double Malt, Kareishma took up the role of Sensory and Consumer Science Manager. “I was essentially the designer of the product. Because we wanted a quality product I led multiple waves of research in order to fully understand what the consumer wanted in a beer. My role was to identify the consumer need and essentially tap into that space and develop the flavour signature of Castle Double Malt”, explained Kareishma. Together with a team of experts, Kareishma was determined to develop a superior product for our consumer which offers excellence in quality and drinkability.
Additionally, SAB will be celebrating other distinctive unions that make up the fabric of South African life. This is led by the Brewer’s diverse influences and origins unite, extraordinary things can happen.
