Carling

Carling Black Label is a lager beer owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, which holds it through South African Breweries. That ownership is the short version of its story on a South African shelf: a lager brewed under the South African Breweries umbrella and sold as an everyday beer for social occasions.

Carling Black Label is brewed from water, barley malt, maize extract and hops, at 5.5% ABV. That is the recipe the brand publishes, with barley malt and maize extract sitting together in the grain bill and hops and water alongside them. It is a lager beer, and 5.5% ABV is the strength it is sold at.

Carling Black Label is positioned as an everyday beer for social occasions. It is drunk particularly in tavern settings, and it is often shared as a quart rather than poured one bottle at a time. That is how the brand frames it: a lager for company, shared out of a quart.