Need the name of that store. Northcliff running a bit low these days. Enjoy the Nottingham Rd stuff as well, Pickled Possum.

The Mitchell's Bosun Bitter is also good stuff

Squonk wrote: Need the name of that store. Northcliff running a bit low these days.

Loco Liq in Blairgowrie Plaza (Conrad Drive)

The Schwabinger in Randburg usually has two Drayman's beers (the Alt and the Weiss) on tap.

http://www.box.net/shared/dgx73aytr8hyfi5od0j5

our latest recording ,stuffing around and recorded on a mobile phone ,we had fun doing it

YOu should visit the Gilroy brewery out on the west rand ...nice pub too and family friendly. great publican too.

Check out Whale Tale Ale as well if you can find it, featured at Cape Town Food Market recently. Not bad at all.

Mitchells Brewery in the Waterfront make several good beers, including the legandary "Old Wobbley" - reputed to be the strongest beer. See http://www.mitchellsbrewery.com/

Birkinhead out side Hermanus in Stanford. They make "Honey Blond Ale" among other great beers. See http://www.birkenhead.co.za/

Boston Breweries make the "Whale Tale Ale" already mentioned and a few others. See http://www.bostonbreweries.co.za/home.html

A new brewery we say at the Food & Winse show at the CTICC recently was Napier that make a Lager and an Ale. See http://www.napierbrewery.co.za

Out in Broederstroom there is the Irish Ale House which has a sort of rustic charm and which is notable for not being able to serve patrons a Castle - even if they ask really nicely. Sorrry. They don't have. They brew their own on the premises. They also host a beer fest once a year (usually late May sort of time) and again it's for small brewers. We went there last year (missed this year for some reason) and it was great. Some really nice brews on sale. I had some coasters and stuff and a price list from the larger of these small brewers, but it all got packed away when we moved and has yet to emerge again.

But if you go looking there are many beery delights to be had.

There used to be the Farmhouse Brewery in Hattingspruit (nr Dundee) but I heard that's gone now. You had to go there to have the beer - it was brewed right alongside the German restaurant on the same site. There's a hotel in.... near Pietermaritzburg.... Dannhauser? Anyhoo.... they had a microbrewery with the emphasis very much on the word "micro". There's a brew pub in Westville too.

My regular tipple at the moment is Goblin from Drayman's. Their Jolly Monk rauchbier is also quite pleasant on a summer's night.

X-rated Bob wrote: Out in Broederstroom there is the Irish Ale House which has a sort of rustic charm and which is notable for not being able to serve patrons a Castle - even if they ask really nicely. Sorrry. They don't have. They brew their own on the premises. They also host a beer fest once a year (usually late May sort of time) and again it's for small brewers. We went there last year (missed this year for some reason) and it was great. Some really nice brews on sale. I had some coasters and stuff and a price list from the larger of these small brewers, but it all got packed away when we moved and has yet to emerge again.

Yip , i go every time they have one ....they now have one in summer as well. WE were meant to play at the last one but fell thru as our drummer decided to get marreid over that weekend ... ?

Shees what are his priorities?? ???

Jamming at a brewery or getting betrothed >

LOL, glad my mrs doesnt frequent the forum ?

Of late I've been trying the Darling range of beers (brewed in the town of the same name). A bit on the pricey side (using non-returnable glass bottles may push their prices up), but there is much of interest here.

I've tried four of their beers so far. "Slow beer" is a smooth, good quality lager (they have this one on tap at Chalkboard Cafe). "Native Ale" is a red ale that they say is well hopped, but I disagree. It's more like a mild than a bitter. It is an ale, and slightly lower in alcohol content. Still a pleasant drink.

Things get much more interesting with "Bonecrusher" and "Black Mist". The latter has the chocolately/roast coffee taste of a dry stout but is lighter in body and colour. Much darker than a lager though, but not black like, say, Guiness. Has a creamy, light brown head. More complex than the first two listed.

More complex still is the "Bonecrusher", a Belgian style "wit" beer (which implies a percentage of wheat in the brew). These beers are typically slightly sour, and the brewmaster has addressed this with the addition of coriander and orange peel (not that far-fetched for a Belgian style, Belgium has a very diverse and distinct range of beers). I'd think this is best served as a summer drink, but it doesn't go down too badly in Jo'burg in August. Complex, spicy, very interesting. Slightly cloudy (again not unusual for this style of beer).

These are in stock at Loco Liq in Blairgowrie and Liquour City in Northcliff (and, probably, other shops). The beer drinker is now far better served than just 5 years ago with growin variety in breweries and styles.

Lex Mitchell's latest project is The Bridge Street Brewery here in PE, at the bottom of the Brickmakerskloof. Fantastic beers! As well as his old favourites, he now has a pilsner that is really great as well as a bitter and a super lush stout that is extremely smooth. They also have great tapas style food. My new favourite haunt on a fri evening after work.

http://www.bridgestreet.co.za/

The Porra's on 8th street in Linden across the street from the Spar have the best collection of beer anywhere, and they're a really great bunch. We've sometimes spent an extra half hour there talking with the guys. Good thing its not a pub.

Averatu wrote: The Porra's on 8th street in Linden across the street from the Spar have the best collection of beer anywhere, and they're a really great bunch. We've sometimes spent an extra half hour there talking with the guys. Good thing its not a pub.

I know that shop, and it's good and they're a nice bunch, but my most productive hunting ground the last couple of years has been Liquor City at Northcliff - especially as regards the local boutique brews.

I am another regular patron of Loco Liq in Blairgowrie and I also enjoy the local microbreweries for the simple reason that they produce a variety of dark beers which the you will never find coming from the SAB stable. And when it comes to microbreweries, I reckon the South African ones are as good as you could hope to find.

Mitchell's is probably my choice brewery and I currently have a fridge full of Raven Stout and Bosun's Bitter. Bosun's Bitter is good but I prefer their other ales, notably 90 Shilling Ale. I'm not too fond of the Milk & Honey Ale simply because it is a tad sweet for my liking.

Do Drayman's have any dark beers? They're a German-styled brewery and the Germans aren't particularly known for their dark beers. Certainly the only Drayman's I've ever tasted were all very crisp. I didn't like their Berghof at all and I'm generally not a big Weiss drinker. The darkest I've had from them was an Altbier that I can't remember the name of now but it was a middle of the road sort of pale ale.

On the topic of Lager though, and here I'm straying outside of the scope of microbreweries, does anyone know of a shop in Randburg (aag, make that Johannesburg) where one can buy Carlsberg? Loco Liq used to sell it but they've been unable to get it now for some months (might be years now). I do like my dark beer but Lager has its place and when you arrive in that place there really is no other beer I feel that could compete with Carlsberg.

deefstes wrote: I am another regular patron of Loco Liq in Blairgowrie

Convenient for me, but pricey. It's getting to the point for me where it's just about worth while to drive home via Northcliff on a Friday afternoon.

and I also enjoy the local microbreweries for the simple reason that they produce a variety of dark beers which the you will never find coming from the SAB stable. And when it comes to microbreweries, I reckon the South African ones are as good as you could hope to find.

There's some very good ones. There are some not so good ones, but
a) that's the way it is with microbreweries everwhere
b) one man's meat is another's poison

Do Drayman's have any dark beers? They're a German-styled brewery and the Germans aren't particularly known for their dark beers. Certainly the only Drayman's I've ever tasted were all very crisp. I didn't like their Berghof at all and I'm generally not a big Weiss drinker. The darkest I've had from them was an Altbier that I can't remember the name of now but it was a middle of the road sort of pale ale.

I don't recall a stout or a porter from Drayman's. I like the Mitchell's stout, and if your tastes incline towards dry stouts then you should try the aforementioned Black Mist and also the Porter (Pickled Pig?) from Nottingham Road.

Drayman's brews mostly German styles, but they include a bitter and an IPA. I haven't seen much of the IPA recently. I hope it returns for the summer. Their bitter (Goblin) has been a bit not-quite-right but is getting better, much more like a proper English bitter. They also have a low-alcohol beer that tastes like something. Their "Letzer Wunsch" is a lager coming in at 3% and it's surprisingly tasty.

Certainly you get dark (dunkel) beers from Germany. Most of them lagers, but not all. I'm partial to a dunkel weiss from time to time. The trick, for me, with weiss is to go for the unfiltered beer. The filtered weiss beers LOOK posher and nicer, but they lose out taste wise. If you think of the Erdinger range then the silver label is filtered and the white is unfiltered. The Drayman's weiss is unfiltered, and more strength to them.

Also try a weiss with a slice of lemon floating on top on a summer afternoon - quite refreshing.

On the topic of Lager though, and here I'm straying outside of the scope of microbreweries, does anyone know of a shop in Randburg (aag, make that Johannesburg) where one can buy Carlsberg? Loco Liq used to sell it but they've been unable to get it now for some months (might be years now). I do like my dark beer but Lager has its place and when you arrive in that place there really is no other beer I feel that could compete with Carlsberg.

Depends what you mean by "lager". If you mean a dry, golden coloured, bottom-brewed beer then anything labelled "Pilsenser" is a candidate (all Pilseners are lagers, strictly speaking not all lagers are Pilseners but the two terms are getting interblurred these days). So there's one from Nottingham Road. You don't care for the Drayman's Berghof, but you could try the Letzer Wunsch (labelled "helles", German word for a pale lager). Most Portuguese and Mozambican beers are lagers (NB! A lager can be dark in colour, like a stout, but stouts are ales and dark lagers are dark lagers) and there's usually a selection at Liquor City. Also look at Brewer's Union which is starting to pop up in bottle stores in Jo'burg (I first saw it being sold at Maboneng, and it may have spread out from there). Locally there's also Bavaria (confusingly owned by a Dutch company with the same name and who also import their own beers into the country - so things get confusing) and they brew a lager.

Generally interest in more individualistic brews is growing, and the bottle stores are aware of that, so many of them are extending their range all the time. If you've the time on a Sunday morning then wake up early, drive out to Pretoria, and catch the Friends Of The Rail train out to Cullinan (best to book in advance). At Cullinan there is the cockpit brew pub which is quite interesting if you are interested in beery things. There's also the Irish Ale House in Broederstroom. There's another brewpub (name escapes me) just West of Magaliesburg, and one out near Rustenburg which does German style beers.

I have booked a table for lunch at the beer garden at Gilroy's brewery next Sunday. Alter-Irving are playing so it really should be a case of "Real ale and good music". Gilroy's marketing by-line is "120 years behind the times"! Hope the beer prices are, too! The have an ale called "Serious". The marketing blurb on their website states that "this ale has flavours in places where other beers don't even have places"! Should be a good afternoon. ?

Not a beeg fan of SAB stuff in general (Gimme a forrester draught anytime) - I've had the pleasure of drinking tasting at the SAB brewery in Newlands, CPT - the fresh Milk Stout (not yet bottled) was reasonable and the icey cold fresh Hansa draught was really enjoyable.

I generally go for Mitchell's Raven Stout locally and when in Dublin, visit the guiness brewery for a taste of heaven ?

I havn't yet had a Darling beer that I was amazed by (but I reckon the pub needed to clean the pipes, metallic taste in beer is generally not good). The birkenhead is well worth visiting, great place out in Hermanus. I'm undecided by Boston brew(s), and yet to try the Napier stuff. Don't see any of the JHB micro brewery stuff in CPT - a great pity.

The crying shame is that the Paulaner Brauhaus closed in CPT in Feb - their Weissbier was the summer drink imho. Test cricket really has suffered from this... ??? Breweries just don't seem to last in CPT, the Firken closed about 15 years ago and that was also a crying shame.

Johnny B wrote: I have booked a table for lunch at the beer garden at Gilroy's brewery next Sunday. Alter-Irving are playing so it really should be a case of "Real ale and good music". Gilroy's marketing by-line is "120 years behind the times"! Hope the beer prices are, too! The have an ale called "Serious". The marketing blurb on their website states that "this ale has flavours in places where other beers don't even have places"! Should be a good afternoon. ?

Their prices are a couple of years ahead ? Not too cheap, Twenty Odd rand for a pint. 'Serious' is about 7% Aclohol(I think) and makes you fall down easily.
'Favourite' a pale ale is quite friendly.

Great Venue, and Alter-Irving is good stuff, if the full band are there you should catch Arno

X-rated Bob wrote: Depends what you mean by "lager". If you mean a dry, golden coloured, bottom-brewed beer then anything labelled "Pilsenser" is a candidate (all Pilseners are lagers, strictly speaking not all lagers are Pilseners but the two terms are getting interblurred these days).

Yes, I realise that. Beer naming can be pretty confusing but in the simplest terms it is actually quite easy; There are only TWO types of beer, lager and ale. But I know that I use them incorrectly at times, sort of a necessary confusion to avoid confusion. ?

While all Weiss, Porters, Stouts, Bitters, Lambics etc. are ales in the basic sense of the word, I rather use the term "dark beer" when referring to the larger group of dark beers, simply because using the word "ale" might lead to confusion with the specific ales such as "pale ale", "dark ale", "IPA" etc. And also, as you rightly point out, some lagers are indeed dark, such as dunkels, bocks, schwarzbier etc. so I guess, I should also try not to just refer to ales in the generic sense as "dark beers".

I remember a nice poster I saw in a pub once which mapped out the different kinds of beers. Would like to get my hands on that.

deefstes wrote: I remember a nice poster I saw in a pub once which mapped out the different kinds of beers. Would like to get my hands on that.

HA! Found it.



Perhaps the most interesting beer I've ever tasted is at the very top right of the map, the Gueuze. I was in Belgium and, while I knew that I was not going to be able to sample everything they have, I decided I'd try. So with every opportunity I could find (or create) I tried a different beer. I didn't know half of the types of beer on offer. I had many surprises but Gueuze was the one that threw me for a total loop. It's a sour beer, almost tastes like a beer that's gone off, and at first I didn't like it at all. But towards the end of the glass I started "understanding" it a little and I even ordered a second one (where I could have ordered something different in my quest to try everything).