The team from Drifter Brewing accept their custom painting by Jessie Pearson to celebrate their overall win

It’s been 10 days since the winners of the inaugural African Beer Cup were announced and I have finally found time to add the info to the blog. Some of you have noticed that blog posts have become a little sparse this year and part of the reason for that is the ABC. Co-founded with my hubby, Shawn, the competition has taken up inordinate amounts of our time over the past eight months or so. Our goal was to put together the most professional and focused competition we possibly could, inspired in part by my experiences judging overseas. We are pretty amped with how it all went, truth be told, and would like to send a huge shout out to all the judges and stewards who gave up their time to make the competition a success – we absolutely could not have done it without you. Big thanks also to the ABC/Powwow team at BevPlus for all the packing and unpacking and giving up of weekends!

We ran things a little differently to other competitions, with the main change being that every beer in the contest was judged twice – or at least twice. Sometimes, judges have a bad day, are influenced too much by their fellow panel members or maybe don’t know the style too well and sometimes we make mistakes. So we judged everything twice and if there was a difference of more than seven points between the two panels, then the beer was judged a third time. About 70% of beers were judged within seven points, but that left 30% that had to be judged again, meaning that ongoing judge training is needed in SA.

Byron Damonze of Hoghouse picked up five awards

Our other goal was to make this a truly African competition. We didn’t know how many entries we would get from outside South Africa but for this, the first year of the competition, we were hoping to get at least one entry from the rest of the continent. In the end we received a total of 143 entries from 11 countries (Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia). We were thrilled. One of the highlights of the competition for me was delivering a tray of American IPAs to a Cape Town panel. As I told them the added ingredient – mango pulp – I hoped they wouldn’t notice the goosebumps, for I knew that I had just served a mango-infused IPA from a Kenyan microbrewery. It might not seem like much, but it was a moment that made me realise craft beer is really starting to catch on across the continent and it made me extremely happy. The beer, from Bateleur Brewery, went on to win a silver medal.

The other moment that made me grin – and almost cry – was the awards evening, held during the Craft Brewers Powwow. There is always something special about seeing people celebrate their success, more so when it is people that you know and more so still when you’re the one that gets the honour of announcing.Medals were awarded in 28 different BJCP categories although it wasn’t a given that there would be a gold medal in every category. The minimum score for a gold was 39, silver 34 and bronze 29. Big congrats to everyone who nabbed a medal and thanks for the support. We’ll see you next year.

Here are all the medal winners:

Category: Standard American Beer

GOLD: Anheuser-Busch InBev – St Louis Lager (Botswana)

SILVER: Shields Indie Brewing Company – White Falcon (South Africa)

BRONZE: Mad Giant – Super Session (South Africa)

Category: International Lager

GOLD: AB-InBev – Sibebe Lager (Swaziland)

SILVER: AB-InBev – Kilimanjaro Premium Lager (Tanzania)

BRONZE: AB-InBev – Carling Black Label (South Africa)

Category: Czech Lager

SILVER: Spilhaus Brewery – Premium Lager (South Africa)

BRONZE: Hoghouse – Pumba Pilsner (South Africa)

Category: Pale Malty European Lager

SILVER: Cape Brewing Co. – CBC Lager (South Africa)

BRONZE: Darling Brew – Slow Beer (South Africa)

Category: Pale Bitter European Beer

GOLD: Roof of Africa Craft Brewery – Roof Draught (Namibia)

SILVER: Urban Brewing Co. – Judas Peak Blonde Ale (South Africa)

BRONZE: Darling Brew – Blood Serpent (South Africa)

Category: Amber Malty European Lager

SILVER: Brauhaus Am Damm – Brauhaus Märzen (South Africa)

BRONZE: Spilhaus Brewery – Märzen Lager (South Africa)

Category: Amber Bitter European Beer

BRONZE: Hazeldean Brewing Co. – Vienna Lager (South Africa)

Category: Dark European Lager

GOLD: Brauhaus am Damm – Brauhaus Dunkel (South Africa)

BRONZE: Clockwork Brewhouse – Schwarzbier (South Africa)

Category: Strong European Beer

SILVER: Doctrine Brewing – Twisted Talisman (South Africa)

Category: German Wheat Beer

GOLD: Urban Brewing Co. – Talisman Weissbier (South Africa)

SILVER: Jack Black Beer – Atlantic Weiss (South Africa)

BRONZE: Berg River Brewery – Dunkler Doppelbock 2018 (South Africa)

Category: British Bitter

BRONZE: Newlands Spring Brewing Co. – Jacob’s Pale Ale (South Africa)

Category: Pale Commonwealth Beer

GOLD: Darling Brew – Rogue Pony (South Africa)

BRONZE: Hoghouse Brewing Co. – Hogtale African Pale Ale (South Africa)

Category: Brown British Beer

GOLD: Afro Caribbean Brewing Co. – Pirate Porter (South Africa)

SILVER: Darling Brew – Black Mist Orange (South Africa)

BRONZE: Oxenham Craft Brewery – The Thirsty Fox Amber Ale (Mauritius)

Category: Irish Beer

SILVER: Darling Brew – Gypsy Mask (South Africa)

Category: Dark British Beer

GOLD: AB-InBev – Castle Milk Stout (South Africa)

SILVER: The Franschhoek Beer Co – The Stout (South Africa)

BRONZE: Stellenbosch Brewing Co – Eike Stout (South Africa)

Category: Pale American Ale

GOLD: Mad Giant – Killer Hop (South Africa)

SILVER: Stellenbosch Brewing Co – Born Free Pale Ale (South Africa)

BRONZE: Richmond Hill Brewing Co – Car Park John (South Africa)

Category: Amber & Brown American Beer

BRONZE: Shields Indie Brewing Company – Red Special (South Africa)

Category: American Porter & Stout

GOLD: Drifter Brewing Company – The Stormy Smoked Porter (South Africa)

BRONZE: Bature Brewery – Black Gold (Nigeria)

 Category: IPA

GOLD: RIOT Beer – Valve IPA (South Africa)

SILVER: Jack Black Beer – Skeleton Coast (South Africa)

BRONZE: Afro Caribbean Brewing Co. – Jungle Paradise (South Africa)

Category: Belgian Ale

SILVER: Hey Joe Brewing Company – Wit (South Africa)

BRONZE: Newlands Spring Brewing Co. – Passionate Blond (South Africa)

Category: Strong Belgian Ale

SILVER: Hey Joe Brewing Company – Blonde (South Africa)

BRONZE: Hoghouse Brewing Co. – Haybale Saison (South Africa)

Category: Historical Beer

GOLD: Stellenbosch Brewing Co. & Little Wolf – Sorghum Gose (South Africa)

Category: American Wild Ale

GOLD: Little Wolf – The Sour Plum (South Africa)

SILVER: Little Wolf – Passiflora (South Africa)

BRONZE: Hoghouse Brewing Co. – Nose to Tail Sour Ale (South Africa)

Category: Fruit Beer

SILVER: Bateleur Brewery – Fruit Fly (Kenya)

Category: Spiced Beer

GOLD: Humanbrew – Loxton Lager (South Africa)

BRONZE: Shields Indie Brewing Company – Back in Black (South Africa)

Category: Alternative Fermentables Beer

GOLD: AB-InBev – Hero Premium Lager (Nigeria)

Category: Wood-aged beer

GOLD: Hazeldean Brewing Co. – Bourbon Barrel Sour Mash Milk Stout (South Africa)

Category: Speciality Beer

BRONZE: Shields Indie Brewing Company – Soul Power (South Africa)

WINNER OF THE 2019 ABC BEST BEER IN AFRICA:

Drifter Brewing Company – The Stormy Smoked Porter