I haven’t been blogging much, but I did check something off my bucket list

At the end of last year I made a pledge. A promise to myself that I would dedicate more time to this blog. “While I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions, I do pledge to blog more frequently in 2022”, I wrote. “One thing I am going to start a Beer of the Month post”, I continued. In a later post I claimed that “Every Friday until I run out of ideas, you’ll find a recommendation for a South African brewery or bar that is worthy of receiving your hard-earned cash as the weekend arrives.”

Anyone that regularly follows the blog will note that this was all just lies. Well, maybe not lies, but like most New Year goals, it faded faster than the aroma on a hazy IPA stored outside the fridge. We are now 29 weeks into the year and I have managed 15 posts. Beer of the month died in February and I’ve posted just seven suggestions for Friday Beers. This is not because there aren’t any suggestions to make, but because life is just so damn busy all the time. January is completely devoted to organising South African National Beer Day, then from mid-February, preparations begin for the African Beer Cup, now the biggest and most comprehensive beer competition on the continent. 

On Tap Magazine, now in its sixth year, comes out quarterly and also demands a lot of my time, and what’s leftover goes to freelance writing. And drinking, gymming to try and counteract the aforementioned, hanging out with friends and family – that sort of thing. So I struggle to find time for the blog, which makes me sad because I love writing this thing. Alas, stuff that doesn’t make money gets shunted to the bottom of the pile. Hence the blog is a little sparse at the moment.

Meeting fabulous folks while judging at the Aro Rojo in Mexico

I have recently returned from a truly epic trip through North America: six weeks of judging in Mexico, speaking on traditional African beer at Homebrew Con in the US, judging again in the world’s biggest homebrew competition, taking a few beery exams and then taking time out to travel with the family, naturally popping into a few breweries along the way. I’ve returned from this trip revitalised and full of ideas for articles, events, books and yes, hopefully blog posts.

I think over the past few years, I have lost a little excitement for the local beer scene. I think the scene itself got a little stagnant too, but I’m sensing a change. Now that Covid seems to be a thing of the past (well, at least all the restrictions associated with it seem to have been relegated to the history books), festivals are coming back, and they’re going to be bigger and more fun than ever; brewers are planning cool events like Triggerfish’s recent vertical tasting of their Belgian quad, Crazy Diamond or Aegir Project’s beer and donut pairing. Once I’ve posted this rambling nonsense, I am going to update the blog’s events calendar with events for IPA Day on 4 August, a mini fest taking place at Woodstock Brewery, the launch of Hazeldean’s long-awaited brewery and taproom in Pretoria and whatever other events I can find (note to brewers – you would make my life so much easier if you actually sent me details of your upcoming events rather than making me scavenge around Facebook for them).

Anyway, the point of this post – if there is one at all – is to say hi, I’m back. I’m not going to make any empty promises of thrice weekly blog posts because we all know that’s never going to happen. But I’m here and I’m amped about South African beer. I hope you are too.