How lockdown measures are killing craft beer
This week I read an article on how COVID-19 is affecting the US craft beer scene. In a survey of 455 brewers carried out by the Brewers Association, 46% said that their businesses will not last for three months under the current conditions. Just imagine that –...
Backyard Beerfest – Saturday 28 March
It has no doubt come to your attention that from Thursday night, South Africa will be in COVID-19 lockdown. We’ll all have to remain in our homes for 21 days, unless we have a job that is crucial to society or we have to pop out for essential supplies. Essential...
How to enjoy your beer while social distancing
Beer festivals have been cancelled; smaller events like quizzes, homebrew meetups and *sob* karaoke have been cancelled; conferences, food pairings and training courses have been cancelled. You're practising social distancing and trying to stay at home, and even if...
Beer review: Devil’s Peak Grapefruit King’s Blockhouse
Devil’s Peak have come up against a lot of flack in recent years. Their focus has shifted quite dramatically from cutting edge craft to mainstream lager. They’ve upset brewers large and small with price wars and tap takeovers, and even The King’s Blockhouse has...
Enter the 2020 African Beer Cup
UPDATE: Sadly, the 2020 African Beer Cup has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fancy having your beer crowned the best in Africa? Read on to find out how to enter the 2020 African Beer Cup. In its first year, the African Beer Cup attracted 143 entries...
Beer review: Chibuku Shake-Shake
I have been writing about beer in South Africa for almost nine years and yet you could probably squeeze every word I've ever written about traditional sorghum beer into a single tweet. It's kind of sad that while South Africa has been having this beer awakening, or...
Entries open for the 2020 Beer Label Design Awards
Entries for the 2020 Beer Label Design Awards are now open. This is the third year that beer has been included in the awards and will be the first year that spirits producers can enter. The motivation for the competition is to reward outstanding design as an...
Celebrate the 4th annual South African National Beer Day
I never expected it to catch on like it did. South African National Beer Day was born out of a desire to celebrate South Africa's favourite tipple in style. It was also meant to give the local beer scene a little boost each year. After consulting a number of...
My beer of the year: Woodstock’s Mr Brownstone
Earlier this week I published the results of the 2019 Brewmistress Beer Awards. There was one brewery that I felt was lacking from the list, or at least from the votes. And that same brewery had been lacking in previous years too. In fact, when I searched for...