So, the results are in. Seventeen judges took part, scrutinising 64 beers and ciders from 23 breweries/cideries and judging them to the BJCP style guidelines. This was narrowed down to 10 finalists in the beer category and eight in the cider category. The winners...
Yesterday I was at Draymans Brewery in Pretoria. As one of the country's longest-running craft breweries, Draymans is always a hive of activity and yesterday they were both brewing and bottling. I spent some time watching the bottling process and it helped shed...
So, the conspiracy theories have somewhat died down and the beers have been released. Whatever your opinion on the matter - and many of you voiced yours here - 3 Fransen Street, the "craft" arm of SAB is now open for business. After a low-key launch at SAB HQ in...
Beerfest season is upon us and the awesome guys at Jo'burg Festival of Beer have kindly given some tickets for me to give away on the blog. The festival takes place this weekend - September 27th & 28th - at the Pirates Rugby Club. Advance tickets are R150 but...
Hey, Cape Town foodies and boozers - this blog post is for you. Remember those awesome Grape vs Grain events that you heard about earlier in the year? You know, the ones where I faced my arch nemesis, Cathy Marston - "The Wine Lady" - and we battled it out to see...
My first taste of this beer came straight out of the secondary fermenter. The fresh smack of citrus that hit my nostrils followed through when I sipped. 'This is my kind of beer', I thought. Imagine my surprise then, when I tasted the finished version at...
A couple of weeks ago, SAB quietly announced that they would be venturing into the South African craft beer scene (the first I heard of it was on Beerhouse's blog). Well, they didn't quite put it like that - they're sensibly staying away from the word "craft". The...
Last Saturday, BJCP-accredited judges from across South Africa met at the SAB World of Beer in Johannesburg to judge the second annual South African Craft Brewers Championship. Brewers really stepped up this year, with a 33% increase in the number of entries and a...
I've only ever tasted one other California Common (Anchor Steam, of course) so I don't have much to compare Robson's West Coast Ale (from Shongweni Brewery in KZN) to. The beer placed third in the 2013 SA Craft Beer Championships, though for me, it doesn't match up...
