Grab your pint glasses, South Africa; our craft beer scene is bubbling up like never before! What began as a small hobby has turned into a lively, nationwide craze. Let’s dive into how South Africa’s craft beer went from a quirky niche to a full-blown sensation!
A taste of history
Let’s take a trip back to the 1600s when European settlers first brought brewing to South Africa. Local tribes like the Xhosa and Zulu were already making their own traditional beers from sorghum and maize. In the late 1800s, the Castle Brewery opened in Johannesburg, starting large-scale beer production. By the mid-20th century, South African Breweries (SAB) was dominating the beer scene.
But things really got exciting in the 1970s and 1980s when home brewing became a popular hobby. In 1983, Mitchell’s Brewery opened as the first commercial microbrewery, sparking the craft beer movement locally.
Craft beer takes off
Today, South Africa is home to over 200 microbreweries. That’s right, 200! The range is amazing: from pale ales to IPAs, stouts and unique local flavours. Craft brewers focus on quality ingredients and innovative techniques. Many are proudly South African-owned and support their local communities.
Beer tourism is also on the rise, with brewery tours and beer festivals becoming popular. Events like the Clarens Beer Festival and the African Beer Cup Competition showcase the best of South Africa’s and Africa’s craft beer scene.
Challenges and triumphs
Despite the boom, craft brewers face some hurdles, like high taxes, competition from big breweries, and tricky distribution. But they’re adapting, offering non-alcoholic options and creative flavours to meet changing tastes.
Sidebar:
Fun facts
- Craft brewers experiment with unique ingredients like berries, chocolate and honey.
- Most craft beers range from 4.5-7% alcohol by volume.
- In medieval Europe, the average person drank 220-250 litres of beer per year.
- Craft beer is good for your bones due to its high silicon content.
- Frosty glasses will cause your beer to foam.
- Yeast in beer converts into ethanol (which causes intoxication) and CO2 (which creates the bubbles).
- In South Africa, green bottles are associated with premium beers, but they are actually prone to getting “light struck”. Brown bottles are better for preserving beer and cans are best of all!
Bottoms up!
Essential Flavours speaks with Lucy Corne, a key figure in the African beer industry. Known as the Brewmistress, Lucy has spent years exploring beer, from tasting microbrews in North and South Korea to enjoying pints across Canada and her native UK. Now settled in South Africa, she is deeply involved in the vibrant local beer scene. Lucy is a passionate beer writer and educator, the first Advanced Cicerone® in Africa, and an experienced beer judge who has participated in global competitions and conferences. She co-founded the African Beer Cup and is a partner at BeerEx Africa, where she manages the conference agenda. Lucy is also the author of South Africa’s first dedicated beer book, African Brew, and a dedicated hophead often found sniffing and sipping IPAs—all in the name of research.
Q&A with Lucy Corne – @the_brewmistress
1.) Can you tell us about your role as the “Brewmistress” and how you started organising the African Beer Cup? What got you into this and why do you think these awards are so important for the craft beer scene in Africa?
When I arrived in South Africa in 2010, I had worked as a travel writer for about ten years. Still, I knew I would have to diversify since international travel from SA is pricey. I could see that the craft beer scene was about to take off, and nobody was writing about beer, so I started a blog under the moniker of The Brewmistress. I had started homebrewing with my husband, Shawn, a year or two earlier and was already an avid beer lover. Over the years, the blog grew, leading to several other opportunities – two books and, later, the editor’s position at South Africa’s first beer magazine. I became a qualified beer judge in 2013. In 2018, I was a judge at my first international competition, the World Beer Cup in the USA. Then, Shawn and I decided we wanted to start an international beer competition for the African continent – we were the only continent that didn’t already have an international contest! The African Beer Cup launched in 2019, and the first year was a huge success, with almost 150 beers entered from 11 African countries. It has grown yearly and is now considered a prestigious event on the international judging calendar. As well as about 25 judges from Africa, we have around 15 international judges each year. There’s even a waiting list of judges wanting to join us. Bringing down international judges has been great because they have a vast amount of experience and knowledge. All our judges have to give in-depth feedback, which helps the brewers improve their beers year on year.
2.) Can you share a memorable experience from your travels where a local beer or brewery completely exceeded your expectations? What made it stand out and how did it influence your views on craft beer?
There are some legendary, bucket-list breweries worldwide, but I sometimes feel those super-hyped experiences can be disappointing. This is not true of Thornbridge Brewery in the UK. I’d always loved their Jaipur IPA and first visited the brewery in 2019. We did a tour but didn’t have enough time to sit and enjoy the beers, and I always regretted that. So last year, when we were in the UK for Christmas, we booked a night in a nearby hotel and spent the whole afternoon at the brewery. When I go to the UK, I drink cask ale exclusively, which is less fizzy and not served as cold as most beers. They had about a dozen on tap, and we stayed there all afternoon sipping great beer and playing board games. It was such a fun time that even my 10-year-old son, who gets dragged to more breweries than he’d like to, didn’t want to leave. I think breweries that aren’t family-friendly are missing a trick.
3.) What’s a defining moment in your career as a beer writer and educator that made you realise you were truly making an impact in the craft beer community?
I think it was probably the first award night for the African Beer Cup. There were about 150 people in the room, all celebrating each other’s wins. It was such a fabulous evening full of shared joy and I realised that winning an award at the African Beer Cup really means a lot to a brewer.
4.) What’s one common misconception about craft beer that you’d like to clear up?
There are a few, but I think the top one is that beer makes you fat and wine doesn’t. Alcohol unit for unit, the calories are very similar (e.g. a large glass of wine and a pint of average strength beer have a very similar number of calories). It’s just that beer can make you feel more bloated because of the carbonation level. The “beer boep” is caused more by the foods typically associated with beer, rather than the beer itself.
5.) What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting to explore the world of craft beer? Any tips for discovering new favourites or understanding different styles?
If you’re normally a lager drinker, delving straight into double IPAs or Belgian quads might be a bit of a leap, so seek out blonde ales and pale ales first. Most craft breweries offer a taster tray, which is a great way to sample a range of styles and find out what you like without committing to a full pint of something. The craft beer scene can be quite jargon heavy, which can be a bit daunting, but don’t let it put you off. After a few taster trays you start to learn whether you’re a dark beer fan, an IPA lover or indeed, whether you just like sticking to lager (there are plenty of craft lagers out there too!)
6.) What’s the wildest ingredient you’ve seen used in a South African craft beer, and how did it turn out?
It wasn’t a craft beer, but my husband once set out to make a beer that tasted like biltong. He used smoked malt, which has a meaty flavour, and added coriander seeds. It really did taste like biltong! One of the things I love most about craft beer is the constant innovation – there’s almost nothing you can’t add to a beer, so it’s always fresh and new and fun. I’ve had local craft beers with buchu, rooibos, peanut butter, chillies, all manner of fruit, malva pudding and melted ice cores from Antarctica!
7.) Do you have any fun facts about beer that would surprise most people?
People think of South Africa as a wine country, but really, we’re not. Beer is massively more popular than wine and has a much, much longer history. Traditional sorghum beer has been brewed here for millennia. And when the Dutch arrived, it was actually beer they made first, not wine. The first shopping list Jan van Riebeeck sent after arriving included the ingredients to make beer and although the early beers were a mixed bag, clear beer was brewed in the Cape long before wine was made here. Hops, which give flavour, aroma and bitterness to beer, are cousins to cannabis. Dark beers aren’t necessarily higher in alcohol and in some cases have fewer calories. There are more calories in a pint of Castle than a pint of Guinness!
8.) What’s your go-to craft beer for a casual get-together, and why? Do you have any personal favourites or hidden gems you love to share?
I always prefer drinking on tap at the source where possible, and at least once a week I spend the afternoon at a craft brewery somewhere in South Africa. But I also love entertaining at home, especially in summer. I tend to have Session IPA in the fridge – bitter and hoppy, but low ABV so I can have more than two. One of my favourites is Session 157 from Afro Caribbean Brewing Company in Kenilworth (Cape Town). If I feel like something a little stronger, I love Giant IPA from Aegir Project in Noordhoek. And for dessert, Woodstock Brewery’s Mr Brownstone is my favourite – it’s a hazelnut brown ale that to me tastes like Nutella, if it was a beer.
