It’s been so long since I wrote anything on this blog, I’m surprised I can even remember my login details. (I jest of course – I can’t remember my login details for anything. Luckily, Google can). The main reason I just don’t find time to blog in the first half of the year is the African Beer Cup. The competition is my baby and my true love (but don’t mention that to my husband or son). It takes a disproportionate amount of my time and I think about nothing else (I literally have regular anxiety dreams about everything going wrong) between mid-February and mid-May. I was so busy sending winner artwork out, marketing the results of this year’s contest and sending out info to the press, that I failed to even post the winners here. So that’s my goal for today.

Fermentis GM Stephane Meulemans assesses a beer. Image by Marla Burger

This year a total of 232 beers were entered from 20 African nations (a record number of countries). Our most entered category was IPA, followed by International Lager and then Pale American Ale. We use the 34 BJCP categories, although we don’t have entries in every category (no Smoked Beer this year and we’ve never had a Scottish Ale entry). More than 50 judges travelled from 16 different countries (with about half the judges hailing from SA) and spent three days evaluating the beers. The competition is unique in that every beer entered is judged at least twice. If there is a points difference of more than seven between the first and second round, it gets judged a third time. Judging this in-depth is pretty rare.

This year we had 60 medals, including 13 golds. Winning a medal in the African Beer Cup isn’t easy. There is only one gold, one silver and one bronze available in each category and you have to meet minimum score requirements to be eligible – hence some categories don’t have a gold medal, some only have a gold and a bronze. A couple of categories produced no medals at all, with nothing entered reaching the minimum score for a bronze.

In the end, the golds go up against each other to determine who will be named Best Beer in Africa – a lengthy decision taken by five extremely experienced  judges from five different countries. The overall winner was Richmond Hill Brewing Co’s Barrel Aged Sour, a dark ale aged in Shiraz barrels with raspberries and peaches.

Richmond Hill founder Niall Cook shows off the Best Beer in Africa paint. Image courtesy of RHBC

“The African Beer Cup has quickly become the most prestigious beer competition in Africa,” says Richmond Hill’s founder and brewer Niall Cook. “To have a beer collect an award in the competition is an amazing achievement, however to further walk away with the Best Beer in Africa Award for 2023 is on another level! Everyone at RHBC is on an all-time high. We are extremely proud as a company and are thankful for all our supporters that have driven us to reach these new heights.”

As well as medals and the overall prize, special recognition is awarded to a beer that showcases traditional African ingredients in a beer. The 2023 BASA African Celebration Award, sponsored by the Beer Association of South Africa, was awarded to Soul Barrel Brewing, based in the Cape Winelands, for their African Wild Soul, a collaboration with Tolokazi Beer. The beer is a first-of-its-kind blend of farmhouse ale and umqombothi (traditional sorghum beer), aged in wine barrels for two years. Soul Barrel, who won the Best Beer in Africa in 2022, specialise in championing local ingredients and brewing traditions in their beers.

Before I point you towards the full results, I just want to extend huge thanks to all our sponsors, especially our headline sponsor, Fermentis. We couldn’t put on the professional and, quite frankly, hugely fun event that we do without sponsorship from the wider industry. Thanks too to all of the judges for giving up their time, to all our stewards and backstage crew, to Marla Burger, for capturing all the joy and work and love and fun on film. And to everyone who entered for making this thing so awesome and worth giving up a quarter of the year for. I love it.

Click here for the full list of all 2023 medal winners.

Head over to the African Beer Cup Facebook page for more images from this year’s competition, including the awards night, held at Woodstock Brewery.