Cape Town - The Western Cape has long been famed for its wines, which attract international attention and a thriving tourist market. But what’s less well known is that the region is also Africa’s largest beer hub.
Now, thanks to a growing number of microbreweries, and tours to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the good stuff, the news is spreading.
Cape Town boasts the original site of what is today South African Breweries, the world’s second-largest brewing company, with 200 brands in around 76 countries. And already considered the craft beer capital of South Africa, the Mother City is welcoming a host of microbreweries to the fold.
SAB in Newlands is where you get to see a modern, fully functioning production line as part of their informative brewery tour. The site was originally chosen for its proximity to the Liesbeek River, and the brewery still brews beer with fresh mountain spring water.
Louwrens Fouche, a tour guide intent on creating awareness of local beers, launched the “Super Cool Beer Tour” of Cape Town last December as part of a larger city tour, but he has since separated it, building it up to become a half-day experience focusing on the diversity of the city’s ale offerings.
An aficionado of beer, wine and Cape history, Fouche is training at Newlands Brewery to facilitate the tours himself.
He’s not only about sipping the amber brew, but also focuses the attention of tour participants on the distinct characteristics and smells of each beer. Included is a stop at Kloof Street’s Gourmet Boerie, dedicated to boerewors and beer pairings.
Like wines, beers have distinct differences: Castle smells like honey, Black Label like banana, and stout can smell like caramel, butterscotch, liquorice, toffee, and sometimes coffee.
Fouche also exposes his audience to a wide range of beer producers, from the multi-thousand litre facilities at SAB to Mitchell’s Brewery, which opened as South Africa’s first microbrewery in 1983.
Another beer guide in the city,
Iain Harris, believes the focus on historical context is important, so his tour “becomes a lens to explore the city”.
“There is a depth to the experience which is greater than just the beer. Beer is a conduit. Exploring beer is an exploration of the narratives of civilisation,” Harris says, adding that he takes visitors to a traditional African brewer, providing a “female element” in a male-dominated sector.
“It’s the story of the original microbrew, still done today by thousands of women all over this city. It brings in the deep cultural component of beer – almost the spiritual side,” he says.
For Fouche, setting up a beer tour after his experience with wine has had its own challenges. With tastings readily available, the wine industry is much more geared for tourism, while none of Cape Town’s microbreweries offer official tastings on their premises.
“The wine industry is much easier because you get a lot of support. The infrastructure is in place to facilitate wine tastings.
“With the beer, it’s a bit of a tough thing in the beginning just to decide where you’re going to do this,” he explains.
But craft beer producers are catching on fast, with two microbreweries, Paarl Mountain’s Cape Brewing Company and Darling Brew in Darling, set to open sites in Woodstock that can better cater to the city’s tourists and locals alike.
Fouche says that as the craft beer industry expands, he will be working to adapt his tour to reflect South Africa’s smaller producers, noting that “this is only the beginning”.
SA’s wacky, weird names
From California’s Arrogant Bastard, Montana’s Moose Drool and Oregon’s Voodoo Doughnut, to The Monty Python Holy Grail Ale from the hills of the Yorkshire dales, brewers around the world have long been searching for the ultimate crazy name to secure attention and acclaim for their beers.
Here of some of South Africa’s own wacky and weird titles:
l Beast of the Deep – Brewers&Union: a strong pale lager or imperial pilsner.
l Naked Mexican – Boston Breweries: a sparkling, golden lager. A beer that is pure and naked with nothing to hide.
l Bone Crusher – Darling Brew: a bottle-conditioned frosted Weiß beer with a distinctive candied orange nose.
l Old Wobbly – Mitchell’s Brewery: a strong and distinctive ale, to be consumed with caution. Robust, raw and rebellious.
l Bosun’s Bitter – Mitchell’s Brewery: the first “real ale” produced in South Africa. Full of body and character, but not too bitter.
l Ocean Potion – Triggerfish Brewing: a light pale ale with a huge hop aroma.
l Aardwolf (8.5 percent) – Bierwerk Afrikan Ales: a rich and decadent stout made with coffee, molasses and matured in oak.
Western Cape micro breweries:
l Boston Breweries (Paarden Island)
l Dieu Donne (Franschhoek)
l Jack Black (Cape Town)
l Mitchell’s Brewery (Cape Town and Knysna)
l Darling Brew (Darling)
l Napier Brewery (Napier)
l Birkenhead Brewery (Stanford)
l Triggerfish Brewing (Somerset West)
l Gallows Hill Brewing Company (Cape Town)
l Bierwerk Afrikan Ales (Cape Town)
l Devil’s Peak Brewing (Cape Town)
l Brewers & Union (Cape Town) - Weekend Argus