Asmara Brewery

The Birra Melotti (also Birra Asmara ) was the first brewery in Eritrea. It was in 1939, when the territory to Italian East Africa was founded by Luigi Melotti in Asmara. At the brewery included a glass factory for the production of bottles and beer in addition, the production of spirits .. The villa was built by Melotti his wife Emma, who came to Eritrea in 1940, on the uninhabited until the 19th century island Taulud in Massawa. Melotti died in 1946 shortly after his brother when they both fell into an ambush by armed gangs slide. After his death the business by his wife and his son continued.

The brewery was nationalized by the Derg during the Eritrean War of Independence and was then taken over by the transitional government of Eritrea. Today is the owner of the Asmara Brewery Corporation, which is owned by investors and the State of Eritrea. The brewery has an output of about 400,000 bottles and exported up to 40 percent of their production, while the rest is consumed in Eritrea.

Football

The brewery operates the football team Asmara Birra, which plays in the First Eritrean league.