Chang’aa - Jet fuel 'makes brew stronger'
14/04/2005 13:00 - (SA) 
News 24.com

Nairobi - Jet fuel has become a major component in a local illicit brew drunk by many urban poor in Nairobi, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Daily Nation newspaper quoted a brewer and seller of the illegal changaa liquor in a Nairobi slum, saying airport workers sell jet fuel to a well established net of customers who sell it on to brewers in the city.

The brewer said jet fuel is used to make the drink stronger - and it is also much cheaper than traditional ingredients, making the profits higher.

The newspaper reports said brewers also use formalin, a chemical used to preserve bodies, to shorten the brewing period.

"We don't have the time to go through long processes of preparation (of the original changaa brew). The drunkards are readily available with money, and all they need is something to make them high," said Mama Pima, the slum brewer.

The traditional changaa is made of maize flour, sorghum yeast and different types of sugar, but takes 20 days to make. – dpa

Giving a new meaning to the phrase "getting high," jet fuel has become a major ingredient in the illicit changaa moonshine brew drunk by many urban poor in Nairobi. According to a distiller interviewed in the local media, airport workers sell purloined jet fuel to a network that in turn sells it to brewers in the city. The jet fuel is used to make the drink stronger, and has the added bonus of being much cheaper than traditional ingredients, making the profits higher. Another mystery ingredient used by the bootleggers is formalin, a chemical used to embalm bodies, which shortens the manufacturing time. Traditional changaa is made of maize flour, sorghum yeast and sugar, but takes 20 days to make.