How water challenge almost derailed Kenya's first beer

Charles and George Hurst's rudimentary brewery in Ruaraka in 1922. [File, Standard]

Another battle is on to fight the demon drinks of the mountain which are so potent that they are fabled to reduce energetic young men into zombies who stagger home only to retire to their beds after day-long carousing on empty stomachs.

More than a century ago, two brothers, Charles and George Hurst, were forced to use tea to toast the allied forces victory in the First World War in 1919. There was a shortage of beer then and they embarked on a search for a brew that would be authentically Kenyan. The brothers were scandalised because they had to import German brew from Tanzanian to party in Nairobi.