Not all draughts make it to the last sip. A serious investigation was launched to understand why…
South Africa (05 March 2026) – An award-winning journalist walked into a bar, not for a punchline, but to find the truth behind the…sobering stats.
Every year, over 500,000 litres of beer are poured down the drain.
Why? Castle Lite, knowing that no survey could answer this directly, enlisted the help of Ilan Godfrey, one of South Africa’s most decorated photojournalists…Ilan was tasked with the arduous work of visiting bars across Mzansi to catch the evidence on camera.
“Castle Lite is SA’s most loved draught by volume. But proving that our Extra Cold draught is more often than not finished to the last drop required an unbiased approach. We were curious about the investigation, but Godfrey ensured we didn’t interfere. He takes his work very seriously.” Colleen Duvenage, Brand Director Castle Lite.
Godfrey is an Ernest Cole Award winner, contributor to The New York Times and The Washington Post. Investigating abandoned draughts was a task he took on with all seriousness.
“I treated it like any other documentary assignment,” he says. “You observe, you wait, and eventually patterns start to emerge.”
Nearly 6000 shots (photographs, not tequila) later, the pattern was obvious. Heavier beers – including a well-known Belgian import – kept showing up in abandoned glasses. Castle Lite Draught kept showing up empty.
“Based on my observations and analysis of the photographic evidence, it is clear that people really do tend to finish a Castle Lite Draught,” said Godfrey.
But such was the thorough nature of this investigation that the Castle Lite team insisted on having these results verified by a ‘stats-inclined person’ who ‘studied higher-grade things at an actual university’ and deployed ‘techniques such as counting.’
The results were clear.
Castle Lite Draught is approximately six times less likely to be abandoned than other draughts…because it’s served extra cold.
Godfrey says he agrees with this supposition.
“I think the fact that, unlike other beers, Castle Lite Draught is served extra cold may well be the reason that people tend to finish it more often than beers that are not served extra cold. But my integrity as a journalist means that I cannot say this is the case without another investigation. And frankly, I am far too tired to launch another one right now. This investigation really took it out of me. Going out at night is tough.”
It is with much thanks to implacable journalists like Godfrey, willing to suffer like this, that the truth about vitally important social issues – like which beers are abandoned less often – is revealed.
Cold case closed.
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