Many famous labels of spirits and distillates around the world conceal, behind their sometimes curious and sometimes curious names, curious legends or interesting implications.
This is the case of Kenya's national beer, now a real trademark of the country, not only for the thousands of internal consumers, but also for tourists and travellers.
The famous "Tusker", with the elephant in the logo, is now one of the symbols of this nation and is the best-selling beer of East Africa.
Few, however, know the tragic consequences that led the brewery to call itself such a company.
The Tusker Lager was officially produced and marketed in 1929, but in fact for about ten years in Kenya the beer produced in the then British Empire Cologne had been drunk.
Among the first settlers who came to seek fortune in Africa, after the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi-Kampala railway, there were several "pharmists".
Many of them dedicated themselves to the cultivation of tea and coffee, others had immense plantations of corn, fruit and vegetables.
The Hurst brothers, Charles and George, were farmers but also experienced brewers at home.
After hoarding a nice bunch as gold hunters, they decided to invest their earnings in a brewery. They officially registered their company on December 8,1922 under the name of "Kenya Breweries".
Success was immediate, only the Stanley Hotel, the most prestigious hotel in Nairobi, ordered its crates and coffers. After a year Charles and George were ready to launch a real "brand" on the market, to reach the whole country.
George was known as a savannah lover and great game hunter.
Just in the year of the opening of "Kenya Breweries" she had found herself face to face with a lion and saved herself by miracle, bringing only a few wounds.
During a hunting hunt in 1923, however, intent on taking pictures of a male elephant and his wonderful tusks, he came too close to the specimen, which was put on him with all his strength and killed him walking on it.  
The large male elephants of East Africa are known as "Tuskers".
In his memory, Charles Hurst decided to call their first lager "industrial" Tusker.
Branding and advertising started in 1924, the Tusker Lager with its famous 500 ml bottle was officially produced in 1929. 
The elephant's beer was a successor and in 1935, after buying also a brewery from the then Tanganyika, the company became "East African Breweries". 
In 1938 Tusker won the first of many awards in international competitions for this type of beverage.
Since the tragic end of George Hurst, today the great elephant stands out in all the bars, restaurants and supermarkets of Kenya and is one of the emblems of this country, portrayed on T-shirts, glass holders, tablecloths and walls of every city and remote Kenyan village.