Banana beer is a very important drink in the Rwanda Culture .It’s served when people gather for social meetings in order to facilitate communication, and is also known to accompany religious and royal ceremonies such as traditional weddings and baptism. 

The production of this beer is one of the precious few opportunities for women to come together work as they bond. During the production friendships are made and bonds are strengthened. 

A main ingredient of the beer is bananas and Sorghum. Production starts by crushing ripe bananas into a wooden Barrel known as Umuvure , bananas are crushed using traditional grasses called inshinge.The crushing is done by hands or legs this can be done by 2 or three people, water is added in intervals while crushing the bananas for dilution and to obtain juice all this is done while there is singing and dancing which gives great energy and puts people into a jovial mood. After obtaining a preferred amount of juice, the next process is to make sorghum yeast which aids in fermenting the juice. Sorghum yeast is obtained by slightly pan frying the sorghum and then grounding it. A handful of the sorghum yeast is added in the mixture of the juice, this mixture is then covered by banana leaves and left to ferment for 4 to 5 days in a warm area. After a sufficient time of fermentation the mixture is filtered and ready to drink. It can be consumed within a week or a month.

As the country develops Urwagwa is becoming extinct however it’s still common in some rural communities in places such as Musanze. It’s only for personal consumption during social gatherings.