Saigon-Kien Giang Brewery from Vietnam new VLB member
The Vietnamese Saigon-Kien Giang Brewery (brand name KGB), based in the southwestern province of Kien Giang, became member number 351 of the international network of VLB Berlin in January 2019. The ambitious young company was founded in 2014 and has a production capacity of currently around 1m hl of beer per year.
(oh) With around 95m inhabitants, Vietnam is one of the most dynamic states of Southeast Asia. A comparatively low average age as well as the opening up to foreign investors have enabled the country to achieve respectable economic growth rates in recent years. This is also beneficial for the local brewing industry: With an annual production of about 43m hl of beer, Vietnam ranks third among Asia’s beer nations. Reason enough for the VLB Berlin to maintain close connections with the Vietnamese brewing and malting industry over the past years. In this context the contact to the Saigon-Kien Giang Brewery has been established. VLB is particularly proud that Kien Giang’s management has decided to become a VLB member in 2019. The goal of this close cooperation is to assist the Vietnamese brewery colleagues in the further expansion of their company, especially in questions of product development, product quality and sustainable process design.
Founded in 2014, the brewery’s production capacity was already doubled in 2016/2017 to 1m hl per year – whereby mainly equipment from Europe and the USA is used. In addition to the main brand “KGB Legend”, a lager available in glass bottles and cans in different variations, Kien Giang also produces a selection of craft beers and a wheat beer. In addition, draft beer is sold in 10 and 20 liter kegs. The beer is distributed all over South Vietnam and exported, inter alia, to Singapore and Australia. As the Vietnamese market leader SABECO Group holds a minority stake in KGB, some SABECO beer is also produced and bottled.
Quality is a top priority at KGB: The company is certified according to ISO 9001 and conducts a modern laboratory for quality assurance. In addition, modern personnel management and the sustainable design of all processes are part of the corporate philosophy.
On his on-site consultation visit in Kien Giang in September 2019, Andreas Faustmann, senior consultant at VLB, handed over officially the certificate of VLB membership to Mr. Le Van Thap, KGB Director, Hoang Xuan Tung, KGB Vice Director, and Nguyen Quang Vinh Nguyen, Head of Quality Assurance. “We as KGB are proud to be a member of the worldwide known beer institute VLB Berlin and we are looking forward to the cooperation between KGB and VLB Berlin,” Le Van Thap said at the ceremonial handover and pointed out: With VLB support they want to produce beer with the best quality and well received by many customers.
Please note the VLB course offerings 2020/2021
Micro Malting in Practice
The 8-day full-time hands-on course provides up-to-date knowledge in the field of malting. It covers the basics of malting technology in theory and practice. The lectures will approach topics such as malting barley and other relevant cereals (botanics, quality, varieties, enzymes a.o.), malting technology (steeping, germination, kilning, special aspects of small-scale malting, equipment) and practical laboratory work (barley and malt analysis, interpretation and assessment of different quality parameters). In addition, the participants will conduct a complete malting batch in our pilot malting.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Next date: 11 – 18 May 2020
More information: www.vlb-berlin.org/en/micromalting2020
Craft Brewing in Practice
This is a 10-day full-time training course providing up-to-date knowledge in the field of pub and micro brewing. It covers the basics of beer brewing in theory and practice. The lectures will approach topics such as raw materials (water, malt, hops, and yeast), the brewing process, yeast management, fermentation, hygiene, sensory evaluation, basics of quality control as well as economic and legal aspects for starting a pub brewery. In addition, one day of practical work in a Berlin pub brewery is on the agenda. Starting with practical brewing on the first day, the participants will accompany their own brew up to the final product.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Next date: 14 – 25 September 2020
More information: www.vlb-berlin.org/en/events/craft-brewing-practice2020
Applied Microbiology
This 5-day full-time training course provides up-to-date knowledge in the field of practical microbiology with relevance for the brewing and beverage industry. It covers the basics of microbiology, laboratory techniques as well as microbial sampling in theory and practice. The course is conducted in the VLB’s microbiological training laboratory and in our pilot brewery.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Next date: 2 – 6 November 2020
More information: www.vlb-berlin.org/en/microbiology
Certified Brewmaster Course
The VLB’s flagship training course for prospective brewers contains a 6-month full-time program providing in-depth understanding of brewing technology with its related major fields of engineering, filling/packaging and quality control. Practical work in our laboratories, a visit of the VLB International Brewing- and Engineering Convention in March and a final excursion are included. To receive the VLB Brewmaster Certificate, the
graduates have to finish all exams successfully. In addition, they have to prove a minimum of 3 months practical work in a brewery before coming to the VLB. Traditionally, the Berlin brewmaster education is focused on a comprehensive, practice-oriented knowledge transfer.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Next date: 11 January – 9 July 2021
More information: www.vlb-berlin.org/en/events/cbc2021
Source
Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauereien in Berlin (VLB) e.V., Berlin, Germany