Win tickets to the Jo’burg Festival of Beer!
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...
Grape vs Grain Dinner at Winchester Mansions
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...
Beer Review: That Brewing Co. APA
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...
SAB steps into the craft beerosphere
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...
Finalists in the 2014 SA Craft Brewers Championship
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...
Beer Review: Robson’s West Coast Ale
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...
South African National Homebrew Champs
With the second annual Craft Brewers Championship underway, I've had a few folks asking 'but what about me, I'm a homebrewer - can I enter?'. The answer is no, you can't. But why would you need to enter? You have your own competition to participate in. This year...
Beer review: Old Main Brewery Honey Badger Imperial Stout
I think my main problem with this beer is the name. Not the honey badger bit - they're kind of vicious, but I don't have any major issues with them. But for Old Main Brewery to call this 3.5% ABV beer an imperial stout is a bit of a stretch. Well, OK - it's...
Beer cocktail: Blockhouse Beertini
I'm not much of a cocktail-drinker. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to spirits and to be honest, I've never really given beer cocktails a chance. Until we went to Mauritius that is. We were lucky enough to spend a couple of nights at the uber-luxurious...