In the colonial history of Great Britain, heavy-handed taxation has inspired independence and revolution more than once. Colonists in the Americas tossed tea into Boston harbor in protest of taxes on the eve of the American revolution. Well over a century later, Gandhi protested British taxes by wearing Indian “homespun” cotton and leading his famed march to the beach to illegally produce salt. This trend extended to the British colonial holdings in West Africa where excise taxes on imported liquors inspired Ghanaians to produce their own distillate from palm wine. The resulting drink became a national symbol of pride and was known as akpeteshie.
The story of Ghana’s national drink predates colonization. Production and consumption of palm wine stands as a centuries-old history and was particularly common among ethnic groups in the south of the country’s territory, such as the Akan, Ewe, and Ga-adangbe. Native drinkers tended to consume their alcohol in moderation at religious or social events. By the early 1800s, however, the arrival of Europeans sent shockwaves through tradition as new goods, ideas, and technologies arrived to the Gold Coast. One of these technologies was distillation. It is likely that Ewe people were the first Ghanaians to learn the process as they worked on cacao plantations alongside Swiss missionaries who fermented and distilled the fruit of the cacao.
Palm wine was an obvious target for early distillers in Ghana. The original palm wine distillation process has largely remained unchanged over the past 100 years. Palms are felled and then tapped for their sap which is collected and left to ferment in large barrels. Commonly, two kerosene tins are used as distillation pots and a copper tube is used as a condenser. Firewood is stacked beneath the tins. As the fermented palm wine boils, the hot alcoholic vapor passes through the copper tube immersed in cool water and drips out into a collection bucket.
Fermented palm wine, typically around 3-5% alcohol by volume, is fortified into akpeteshie, 40-50% alcohol by volume. Palm wine is the most common precursor to the liquor, but sugar cane juice can also be used. For palm wine, it is best produced during the dry season as palms yield a stronger, less dilute sap. During the wet season, the fermentation is often cut with sugar. The liquor can be consumed straight or can be infused with roots and herbs as bitters.
This process became the focus of political and social life in Ghana during the 1930s due to a confluence of historical, social, and economic pressures. In 1919, the British government had ratified the Treaty of Saint-Germain which included a section on distilled spirits in Africa stipulating that:
“The importation, distribution, sale and possession of trade spirits of every kind, and of beverages mixed with these spirits, are prohibited in the area referred to in Article 1 [sub-Saharan colonial holdings]. The local Governments concerned will decide respectively which distilled beverages will be regarded in their territories as falling within the category of trade spirits.”
Temperance advocates, who had failed in Britain and succeeded in the US, wanted to export their moral crusade to the colonies and enforce laws on non-consenting colonized peoples. By the late 1920s, local temperance advocates had succeeded in lobbying for harsh enforcement of these laws in Ghana. As the 1930s arrived, the global economy was plunged into a depression, hurting purchasing power around the world. The ‘trade spirits’ permitted in the treaty became expensive. The restrictive temperance policies of the 1920s made liquor even harder to come by. The average Ghanaian turned to a cheaper alternative in akpeteshie. Illicit distillation and speak-easy style bars became increasingly more popular in the Gold Coast during this decade.
The colonial government took the surge in illicit distilling to heart. Since the 1870s, the British had been funding the government in the Gold Coast with the profits from liquor excise tax on imported spirits. Prior to the First World War, excise taxes levied on the import of spirits into the colony accounted for up to 40% of the colonial government’s revenue. Losing revenue, and perhaps losing control, the British cracked down. Akyeampong cites colonial crime statistics to demonstrate the stark change. “In 1930-31, only six cases of illicit liquor traffic had been reported with 11 persons convicted. These offenses jumped a hundred times to 558 reported cases with 603 persons convicted between 1 April 1933 and 31 March 1934.” Thanks to this criminal association, the liquor was dubbed ‘Akpeteshie,’ a Ga term meaning ‘to hide-out.’
In the lead up to World War II, Ghana began to urbanize and single men flocked to cities to work and send money back to the countryside. This movement removed many drinkers from traditional cultural contexts and formed an entirely new drinking culture where bars and distillers were prominent business interests. Stakeholders involved in the profitable akpeteshie industry became early supporters of independence, as the British were constant threats to their illicit dealings. When Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana to independence in 1960, akpeteshie interests were quick to lobby the CPP (Convention People’s Party) which it had supported for so long. Distilled palm wine became legal in 1962 and has been the national drink of Ghana ever since.
The drink has not always maintained a cheery and patriotic image. When the CPP left power, the drink was the butt end of government propaganda which reviled it as unhealthy and immoral. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian government opened the first official distillery in 1958 in an attempt to wean the country off of imported spirits, but the industry did not come of age until the 1970s. Akpeteshie, once the only domestic spirit, would have to compete against corporate-branded spirits seeking a market share.
Although there may now be considerable competition in the Ghanaian liquor market, akpeteshie still has a cultural monopoly thanks to its history. Palm wine and akpeteshie have long been muses to the quintessentially Ghanaian ‘highlife’ music industry. Songs like “Yen Nyira Ye Bow Pepeepe” (the lyrics read “we all booze the same” meaning akpeteshie or imported liquor have the same effect) and “Akpeteshie Seller Give Me a Quarter” immortalize the drink and the status associated with it. Parents may even excuse the behavior of their children by saying ‘O nom akpeteshie’ meaning “He drinks akpeteshie.”
On top of that, the drink itself has innumerable names. In colonial times, it was called bome kutuku meaning ‘box me,’ a challenge to any British officer who might try to punish a drinker. In Twi, the drink can be called mete me gya ho meaning ‘I sit by my fireside.’ It is also commonly known as apio, now the name of a commercial brand of distilled palm wine. Other names include ‘kill me quick,’ ‘V.C. 10,’ ‘take me and fly,’ and ‘speak your mind to your in-law.’ Nigerians make an identical drink called ogogoro. Today, you can even find akpeteshie infused with marijuana.
The story of akpeteshie is a strong and spirited one. It has deep roots in West African culture where palm wine has held a position of great social importance. It reflects the syncretism of a people who came into contact with new ideas. The drink also distills the resistance that Ghanains ultimately felt towards their colonizers. Making and drinking akpeteshie was an act of subversion which literally robbed the royal coffers and enriched the national identity of an emerging nation, Ghana.
Akyeampong, Emmanuel. “What’s in a Drink? Class Struggle, Popular Culture and the Politics of Akpeteshie (Local Gin) in Ghana, 1930-67.” The Journal of African History, vol. 37, no. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 215–36, http://www.jstor.org/stable/183184.
Amoa‐Awua, W. K., E. Sampson, and K. Tano‐Debrah. “Growth of yeasts, lactic and acetic acid bacteria in palm wine during tapping and fermentation from felled oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) in Ghana.” Journal of Applied Microbiology 102.2 (2007): 599-606.
Bernstein, Henry. “Ghana’s Drug Economy: Some Preliminary Data.” Review of African Political Economy, vol. 26, no. 79, [ROAPE Publications Ltd, Taylor & Francis, Ltd.], 1999, pp. 13–32, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4006520.
Collins, John. “Ghanaian popular performance and the urbanisation process: 1900-1980.” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 8 (2004): 203-226.
Luginaah, Isaac, and Crescentia Dakubo. “Consumption and impacts of local brewed alcohol (akpeteshie) in the Upper West Region of Ghana: a public health tragedy.” Social science & medicine 57.9 (2003): 1747-1760.
Regional report: A day in the life of an akpeteshie distiller. GhanaWeb. (2021, May 11). Retrieved January 26, 2022, from https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Regional-Report-A-day-in-the-life-of-an-akpeteshie-distiller-1257868
U.S. Department Of State, and Charles I Bevans. Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America: Volume 2 Multilateral treaties, -1930. United States, – 1930, 1918. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/lltreaties-ustbv002/>.
Van den Bersselaar, Dmitri. “Who belongs to the ‘Star people’? Negotiating beer and gin advertisements in West Africa, 1949–75.” The Journal of African History 52.3 (2011): 385-408.
Zakpaa, HD, et al. “Effect of Storage Conditions on the Shelf Life of Locally Distilled Liquor (Akpeteshie).” African Journal of Biotechnology, vol. 9, no. 10, Jan. 2010, pp. 1499–1509. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=awn&AN=ajb-AJB09.1001&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
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