← Back to globe
National Beer · Since 1923

Primus

🍺
Photo coming soon

Its logo borrows the colors of the Congolese flag, and its large refillable bottles are so ubiquitous that empties get a second life as everything from oil containers to building material.

Primus is a pale lager that's been brewed in Kinshasa since 1923, sold everywhere from open-air terraces to street-corner kiosks in large bottles poured into shared glasses. It's the beer of choice at Congolese rumba clubs and roadside brochette stands alike.

Why it's made this way: Having outlasted colonial rule, independence, and decades of upheaval as the country's dominant brand, Primus is regarded as a genuine source of Congolese national pride.
Read it in context →

More from DR Congo

Brochettes Liboke (de Poisson) Chikwangue (Kwanga) Mikate (Congolese Beignets)
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.