Henrique Kabia moved from Angola to Holland as a political refugee in 1993. It was there where he decided to carry on with his family's tradition: producing beer based on their own recipe. Mongozo is the brand of traditional beers, original from different exotic cultures.
Mongozo means "good for your health" in Henrique Kabia's language, which is that of the Chokwe people who live in Angola, Congo and Zambia.
According to the ancient African tradition, the production of beer is a women's labour. In the 18th century, Henrique's great-grandmother introduced palm tree's fruits as a new ingredient for the making of beer, instead of distilling the typical palm wine. During the last century, the recipe has handed down from generation to generation. Henrique's mother also distilled beer using palm tree's fruits, but she didn't have a daughter, that is why she decided not to carry on with the family's tradition. However, she chose to teach his son the palm tree replacement technique as a process of distillation.
In 1993, when Henrique Kabia arrived to Holland as a refugee, his mother's recipe was his only share capital. The final blending of the recipe, which has been through a lot of experiments, is a new and exotic range of beer which gives to the traditional European beer a completely new dimension.
In 1998, Henrique Kabia and Jan Fleurkens decided to bring out to the market the Mongozo. All the beers contain Fair Trade and Organic Agriculture ingredients, as far as possible, and have the FLO certification of Fair Trade.
For more information, please feel free to visit the website: http://www.mongozo.org/