Soul Barrel launches the strongest beer in South Africa
This weekend, Soul Barrel Brewing in Simondium is launching the strongest beer in South Africa. This perhaps reads a little like clickbait – a beer based on gimmick and sold with hyperbole, but I can tell you this beer wasn’t some flash-in-the-pan project to get likes...
Latest South African craft beer news
It's taken me such a long time to get around to writing this that most of the items here probably couldn't be classed as news any more, but here you go anyway - some things that have been going on in South African craft beer lately: 1000 Hills Brewing Co wins Beer of...
The winners of South Africa’s annual Intervarsity Brewing Competition
South Africa is, as far as I know, the only country in the world that has a major intervarsity brewing competition (although do feel free to correct me if that's not accurate). Imagine this: you're a student of microbiology or chemical engineering or some such...
A round-up of Oktoberfests happening around South Africa
Oktoberfest is now over in Germany, so it seems about right that it's just getting started in South Africa - we're not known for our punctuality after all. I thought I'd do a quick round up of Oktoberfest celebrations happening around SA so that you can spend your...
Beer review: Limited Edition Castle Lager (Rugby World Cup release)
I love it when big breweries release something new. Even if it is a play on one of their existing lagers. It can't be easy bringing out new beers when you work on such a massive scale, and have so very many kilometres of big business red tape to crawl through. Also,...
The South African Pilsner Project
There’s a set of style guidelines that’s used in beer competitions around the world. It’s curated by an American organisation called the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). It’s by no means the only set of guidelines in use, but the BJCP is the standard for both...
Drink a Spring Bock while you watch the Springboks in the Rugby World Cup
A few weeks ago I was at Soul Barrel Brewing in the Cape Winelands for this blog post. While I was there, because I'm nosy, I started reading the info etched on various tanks and asking what was in them and when it would be coming out. One of them contained a German...
Mötley Brüe – a South African beer cover band
I will kick off this post with a shameless self-promotion warning...just so that you're aware! Last year I became a partner in BeerEx Africa and at one of our brainstorming meetings, one of the team suggested having a live band. The cogs started turning as I...
Thursday beers: Woodstock Brewery in Cape Town
It's been a while since I last did a Friday Beers post, and the more observant among you might have noticed that this isn't one either. But there's a good reason for that. While Friday is always a good day to drink beer, at Woodstock Brewery, Thursday is an even...
Yes it has bubbles and no it’s not served warm: the case for cask ale
If I had a rand for every time a South African had described English beer as "flat and warm", I'd probably have enough to buy a pint of English beer in the UK. And with the current exchange rate (and considering the prices in your average British pub), that is a LOT...
Beer for elephants: a visit to Okavango Craft Brewery in Botswana
Maun is known by its residents as ‘Dusty Donkey Town’, and on the day that Okavango Craft Brewery had its unofficial (re)launch party, it quickly became evident why. I’m not quite sure why I felt it necessary or smart to walk the 5km from my hotel to the brewery on a...
Brewery equipment for sale in South Africa
I get regular requests asking about used brewery equipment or complete businesses up for sale so I thought it might be useful to post this here and try to keep it updated. For every brewery that closes, hopefully another one recycles its equipment and starts up in its...

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