I am so used to drinking that to relax, I must drink.

Joe Sa'ah Azeng

Indeed so popular is drinking beer as a past-time in Cameroon, that despite widespread poverty in the country it is referred to by some as the country's second religion.

Football triumphs at the Olympics and African Cup of Nations have also provided good excuses in the past year for the beers to flow.

But aside from major celebrations, if you asked 10 Cameroonians why they drink you would probably get 10 different answers.

National habit

According to freelance journalist Chiabi Achuosih, beer drinking has become, like football, a "national habit for most Cameroonians".

Drinking beer: A national past-time for many

"Cameroonians generally do not read, they don't go hunting, they don't tour their country and so their best leisure time is spent drinking."

He told me he drinks at least five small bottles of Guinness a day.

Another drinker Joe Sa'ah Azeng says he "drinks to feel good".

"I am so used to drinking that to relax, I must drink."

Another drinker I spoke to, who is a mother of two and refused to be named, said she drinks at least two bottles of beer a day and that is to "manage the stress in my marriage".

Sadly, civil courts across Cameroon are full of divorce cases, many of them caused by husbands who neglect their responsibilities in order to satisfy their insatiable desire for their next bottle of beer.

And there is no doubt alcohol is to blame for many traffic accidents.

Overdue rise

Officials of the four main brewery companies in the country have blamed the prise increases on tax rates going up, increased costs of malt and the fluctuating price of the dollar.

Breweries say the rise is long overdue

Alain Bwomdo, main distributor of UCB drinks in Yaounde told me the increase in prices was long overdue

"There is a big market for beer in the country and people will continue drinking no matter what the price is," he told me.

He said the four brewery companies took the decision to increase prices separately and that the increase was not expected to affect consumption in any way.

Not all Cameroonians are however hard core drinkers who cannot live comfortably without a bottle of beer.

A few people I talked to say the price increase has either forced them to reduce their beer intake or to stop drinking all together.

"Man cannot live on beer alone," a reformed drinker told me laughing.

However, it seems that in Cameroon whatever the price of beer, there will always be some hardened drinkers ready to pay.