Samoa Breweries is the main brewer in Samoa, established in 1978.
It brews a German type lager beer, called Vailima after a village in Samoa. Samoa Breweries also brewed San Miguel under licence from 1982 to 1990. In 1999 a majority stake in the company (68.3%) was purchased by the Carlton Brewery of Fiji, a subsidiary of the Foster's Group, the remaining shares were held by the Samoan government (15%), the Nauruan government (10%) and the remainder by small shareholders. In 2011 Foster's was acquired by SABMiller which subsequently sold its Fiji and Samoa operations to Coca-Cola Amatil.[1]
Main brands include Vailima Lager (4.9% alc v/v), Vailima Special Export (6.7% alc v/v)and Vailima Pure (4.9% low carb) In 2013 they released "Vailima Natural" which uses locally grown breadfruit in its recipe as a partial replacement for imported malted barley.
"Vailima" is literally translated from the Samoan as "water in hand" and has its origin in a Samoan folktale in which a woman revives her dying lover by carrying water to him in her hands.