One of the big travesties in life is letting life get in the way of quaffing your favourite beverage(s). While I am way too much of a seasoned campaigner to let this happen to me, my busy schedule has indeed gotten in the way of me writing about them. Work matters meant that I’ve been spending my nights writing about the things that pay the bills, but fear not, dear readers, there is plenty to be excited about on the South African scene and the blog will swell with articles in the next couple of weeks as my work life heads into calmer waters (I sincerely hope).
Clearly, there is no point in writing extensive reviews about events that are now well behind us, so I’ll do a quick recap of interesting happenings in the last month-or-so that I have neglected the blog.
This post is a quick recap of the Joburg Festival of Beer. If these beer festivals are a barometer of the appreciation of craft beer, then the industry is certainly heading in the right direction. Not only are more people attending, but every time there are more breweries on hand.
With these shows becoming sold-out favourites, there is always the chance of things getting a bit wild towards the latter stages. I am not saying this is a bad thing, but to get chatting to the brewers, earlier is better.
One drum I bang on a lot is how the Cape brewers seem to have the edge on the ones up north in terms of both taste and innovation. This is still the case, but at least there are some promising signs of the gap closing. Below are a few of my experiences. As always, apologies for the omissions, but I attend these festivals for new experiences, which in no way detracts from my other favourites not mentioned here. There simply is not enough time and liver to cope with sampling absolutely everything. (Incidentally, I don’t approach whisky festivals in quite the same way. There I often go back to old favourites that I simply cannot afford by the bottle. Yes, Port Ellen, I am looking at you.)
One example of the growing brew scene in the north is Three Skulls. The four beers on show were all excellent and having tasted the awesome Valley of the Skulls IPA earlier, this brewery is certainly an exciting prospect. But guess what? The lion’s share of the beers go to Cape Town anyway.
The festival was also my first introduction to the Standeaven Lager X, which now has a regular place in my fridge. Their Cranberry Hefeweizen has the tartness that approaches a lambic, which is not a bad thing in my book. Certainly a damn sight better than the cloying sweetness of some unnaturally flavoured beers. The Frankie Four Fingers lager was lighter than the Standeaven offering, but still one I would like to try again.
I am familiar with Cockpit Brewing, but get to taste the fine fare little enough to warrant a taste of their entire selection. Anyone who hasn’t tried their IPA should make a serious point of getting their hands on some.
I was also impressed with Dog and Fig Brewery from Parys. Their entire selection is worth your while, but the Baldadige Buchu is something special. I have tasted buchu beer attempts from other breweries before and disliked the whole lot, but this one gets it spot on. (I only tasted Loxton Lager with its light buchu kiss after the festival. Awesome beer, that.)
An interesting addition to the festival was commercial behemoth SAB’s craft brewing initiative with some of its students. Both of the brews that were up for tasting were not bad. The stand also had the book that I was contemplating buying for some time. “You should really buy that, I helped write it,” said a voice behind me. Sure enough, there was Ryno Reyneke on hand to sign my copy. This is probably the first book on craft beer produced in this country, and boy has the bar been set high.
We also had a quick chat to another celeb, Masterchef SA’s Peter Goffe-Wood. Much like me he beat the drum of the Cape beers, expressing a particular affinity for Devil’s Peak, showing that his good taste extends beyond food.
After ample sampling, it was time to fill the glass to the top with some favourites and watch the rugby. I was especially pleased to find Lindemans Kriek on tap for the first time. Yum! Devil’s Peak and Cockpit IPAs were also drained in the time it took the Boks to pummel the Aussies. My definition of a successful day out. Now it is almost Cape Town’s turn (22-24 November) and there is certainly much to look forward to.
© Dimeon van Rooyen 2014
What's in the glass? 