Introducing Big Sip Co, Botswana’s first microbrewery
As a continent, we are lagging behind somewhat when it comes to craft beer. At the moment, outside of South Africa, I have around 20 microbreweries on my very high-tech African breweries spreadsheet. So I was pleased to recently add Big Sip Co. to the list - the...
Winners of the 2018 South African National Beer Trophy
At the 4th annual South African National Beer Trophy, a record 212 beers were entered. Twenty two of them won gold medals and a further 59 were awarded silvers. Beers are judged to the 2015 BJCP style guidelines. There were six trophies awarded for the best beer...
“Tapgate” – is Devil’s Peak trying to monopolise South African craft?
Last week, in what started as a quiet deal and ended being shouted from the social media rooftops, Devil’s Peak – or in fact Signal Hill Products, the parent company to the Cape Town brewery - struck a deal with The Tap Room, buying some 700 installed draught taps...
Win tickets to On Tap at the Tip Craft Beer Festival
If you live in the Overberg and were watching last week's many Cape Town beer events with envy, it's time to rejoice! This weekend, it's your turn, with two days of beery events held at Fraser's Folly brewery near Elim. And if you're not an Overberger, it is a long...
Beer review: Three South African stouts
There's always been a bit of a dearth of dark beers in South Africa. Well, there has, at least, been a dearth of good dark beers in South Africa. Too many of them are thin. Too many are overly acidic thanks to the brewer's indifference to mash pH. Too many are...
Win tickets to the 2018 Woodstock Winter Beer Festival
A few years ago, on any given Saturday you could find a whole load of beer fests to choose from in the Cape Town area. Some were amazing, others badly run and others just a total rip off. Many have fallen away and the cream, as it tends to do, has risen. The...
Win a 5-litre growler from the Real Draught Beer Co.
It's a debate that will never end, a question as old as time itself (or at least as old as the invention of glass bottles): which is better, draught beer or bottled beer? There's a time and a place for both and while beers that benefit from ageing are probably...
Is South Africa’s craft beer scene in a slump?
Between 2014 and 2016, brewery numbers in South Africa almost doubled (from 86 to 154). Two years on, the growth has slowed and today we have around 225 microbreweries and contract brewers, some of which are rarely, if ever, heard from. In the past 12 months or so,...
Beer review: Little Wolf Lemon Geranium Saison
I kind of fell in love with this beer before I'd even tasted it. When Little Wolf held an evening of saison appreciation a few weeks back, I was recovering from a three-week trip to the States (stinking cold picked up on the plane and a touch of beer fatigue from...