# Guyana

Country page of DA Caps, a collection of beer bottle caps. Web page: https://dacaps.imcoll.com/country/gy/info

- Official name: Co-operative Republic of Guyana
- Caps in the collection: 4 (https://dacaps.imcoll.com/country_caps/152)
- Brands: 4

## Beer in Guyana

Guyana's oldest beer is not made from grain. The Makushi, Wapishana, Pemon and Patamona peoples of the interior brew parakari from cassava, fermented with a Rhizopus mould; one study of a Wapishana village counted thirty steps in the process. The coast was settled by the Dutch, whose colonies of Essequibo (from 1616), Berbice and Demerara were taken by Britain in 1803 and joined as British Guiana in 1831. That colony lived on sugar, and Wikipedia lists only small industries besides sugar factories, rice mills and sawmills, a brewery among them; the sources used here name no commercial brewer before the 1950s.

The brewery grew out of a spirits family. José Gomes D'Aguiar began a rum business in the 1840s, and in 1896 his four sons formed D'Aguiar Bros and bought the Demerara Ice House in Brickdam, Stabroek, named for the ice shipped in from Canada. Peter D'Aguiar took over the nearly bankrupt firm in 1934, bottled Pepsi-Cola in 1942, the first in South America, and made XM the number one rum by 1959. In 1955 he promoted Banks Breweries Limited, the first public company in British Guiana with widespread ownership, incorporated that September. It took its name from the East Bank of the Demerara River, where the brewery stood, and made the pale lager Banks Beer, 4.5 per cent today. No source gives the date of the first brew.

The model travelled. Banks (Barbados) Breweries opened at Wildey, near Bridgetown, on 7 September 1961, with about 30 per cent of the money from Guyana and the rest from over 3,000 Barbadians. Banks DIH sold its stake but kept the name outside some islands, which kept the Barbadian company from exporting; the two agreed to market jointly in 2005, and in December 2015 Banks DIH was reported to have sold its 6.5 million shares in Banks Holdings to AmBev. At home D'Aguiar Bros went public in 1966, the year of independence, and merged with Banks Breweries in 1969 as Banks DIH Limited, which moved to Thirst Park in Ruimveldt, Georgetown, where a 13.2-acre complex with the round head office called the Rotunda was built. D'Aguiar, who led the United Force party and was finance minister from 1964 to 1967, died on 30 March 1989. Clifford Reis chairs the company now.

Banks DIH is still the only industrial brewer. It makes Banks Beer and GT Beer (4.3 per cent), and as licensed bottler it makes Guinness, which its officials put at 80 per cent of the local stout market in 2010; Classic Beer was among its new products in 2024. Competition comes from outside: Banks DIH denied any link with a Heineken launch in 2008, Trinidad's Carib Brewery sells Carib, Stag and 592 Lager through Guyana Breweries Inc., set up on 1 August 2021, and in 2024 Guyana imported 16.3 million US dollars of beer, 12.2 million of it from Trinidad and Tobago, and exported 121,000. Craft beer is new: Guerrilla Nanobrewery in Georgetown, called the country's first nanobrewery, has been on Untappd since 28 July 2023 with four beers, among them Blackwater Porter and Kiskadee IPA.

The big investment is Banks DIH's own. In 2024 it reported revenue of 48.8 billion Guyanese dollars, up 11 per cent. On 11 January 2026 President Irfaan Ali commissioned its 13.7 billion dollar malt and bottling plant on the East Bank of Demerara, with capacity for 800,000 cases a month by the company's account, though the president spoke of 400,000; a canning line of 17,000 cans an hour was to follow, and the first canned Banks Beer and GT Beer were reported on 18 June 2026.

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Banks DIH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banks_DIH)
- [Wikipedia: Peter D'Aguiar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_D%27Aguiar)
- [Wikipedia: Banks Barbados Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banks_Barbados_Brewery)
- [Wikipedia: Parakari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parakari)
- [Wikipedia: British Guiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Guiana)
- [Banks DIH: School-Based Assessment document on the history of the company (undated)](https://www.banksdih.com/sites/default/files/document/SBA_Student_Document_in_Word.pdf)
- [Stabroek News: A tale of two manufacturers (2014)](https://www.stabroeknews.com/2014/09/28/sunday/business-page/tale-two-manufacturers/)
- [Uncommon Caribbean: Banks Beer, the beer of Barbados (2024)](https://www.uncommoncaribbean.com/?p=944)
- [Stabroek News: Banks DIH not associated with Heineken (2008)](https://www.stabroeknews.com/2008/05/06/news/guyana/banks-dih-not-associated-with-heineken/)
- [Kaieteur News: Guyana to celebrate worldwide Guinness stout toast (2010)](https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/09/15/guyana-to-celebrate-worldwide-guinness-stout-toast/)
- [Kaieteur News: Is a scandal brewing at Banks DIH? (2015)](https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2015/12/13/is-a-scandal-brewing-at-banks-dih/)
- [NCN Guyana: Banks DIH Linden branch records 29% profit increase for 2024 (2025)](https://ncnguyana.com/2023/?p=26643)
- [DPI Guyana: Expanding economy puts Guyana at decisive crossroads, President Ali (2026)](https://dpi.gov.gy/expanding-economy-puts-guyana-at-decisive-crossroads-president-ali)
- [NCN Guyana: Banks DIH introduces canned beer line (2026)](https://ncnguyana.com/2023/?p=30485)
- [CARIB Brewery: Guyana, Guyana Breweries Inc. (2021)](https://caribbrewery.com/?p=602)
- [OEC: Beer in Guyana (2024)](https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/beer/reporter/guy)
- [Untappd: Guerrilla Nanobrewery, Georgetown (2026)](https://untappd.com/w/guerrilla-nanobrewery/545734)
- [592Hub: Best bars in Guyana (2026)](https://592hub.com/blog/best-bars-in-guyana.html)
- [Archontology: Guyana, Polity Style 1966-2026](https://archontology.org/nations/guyana/01_polity.php)
- [World Statesmen: Guyana](https://worldstatesmen.org/Guyana.htm)

## Breweries (1)

- [Banks D.I.H. Ltd.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/2536.md) — 4 caps, 1955–