The first sip of beer I ever had was from my dad's can of Hemeling. I'd better not say how old I was, but I think that particular beer was discontinued in the mid 80s. I took a while for me to become a hophead (and I'm still trying to convert my dad to the joys of...
It's not an exaggeration to say that over the past five years, the craft beer scene in South Africa has exploded. Pints of ale have moved from the hands of bearded homebrewers to the hands of bearded hipsters and then into the hands of the not-necessarily-bearded...
As winter inches closer, beer geeks' fridges are being emptied of pilsners and witbiers then restocked with Russian imperial stouts, imperial IPAs and Belgian dubbels. If you're in Cape Town there are plenty of the latter at Den Anker, The Waterfront institution is...
Beer and dessert can be a superb match - and it's not just me that thinks so. Even Shakespeare wrote about 'cakes and ale' in the same sentence and if that's not a recommendation for drinking a pint with your pud, then I don't know what is. (Well OK, a half-pint -...
Sometimes I get a bit fed up with the whole 'girls don't drink beer' thing. How often do you read guff like 'ladies will love our fruit-based ciders' or 'bring the whole family to our beer fest - we are serving wine for the wives' or maybe see a photo of...
One of the things I'm always keen to do is to make people realise that beer can be a delicate beverage; that it's not just something to drink with a burger or a plate of fish and chips. So I was thrilled when Tanja Kruger, head chef at Majeka House's Makaron,...
In an ongoing crusade to prove to people that beer goes with food just as well as even better than wine does, the blog will now feature recipes - some paired with beer, some cooked with beer, some paired and cooked with beer and all to be prepared with a beer in...
It's been a busy month in Brewmistress land and I've neglected the blog a bit, for which profusely apologise (and would like to say thanks to those of who who still stop by every day regardless). It seems a long time since I attended the IBD's Africa section...
Once a month or so I meet up with a group of beer geeks and taste a range of tough-to-find brews. It's not like I only see these guys once a month of course, I see them all the time. And our What's App group has exchanged almost 15,000 messages in the past year...
