Beer and variety

Bob-Dubery · 2011-07-02T05:59:29+00:00

We recently moved house. I'd made a habit of using a particular bottle store in Northcliff because it stocked the locally brewed Drayman's brews. Quite good, and a very welcome alternative to the ice-cold lagers that dominate the market. Since we've moved I am patronising another bottle store from which I'd occasionally bought Drayman's in the past. Oh joy! They also stock Gilroy, Nottingham Road, Mitchell's and East Coast brands. All locally produced and all offering options beyond a choice of mass-market lager. The range is increasing too. Last night along with my usual Goblin's bitter from Drayman's I got some Mithcell's beers - Raven Stout (I think it's more like a porter, a little light in body for a true stout) and Milk and Honey Ale (a sweet beer, I suspect it's un-hopped). All good. The adventurous beer drinker now has options. What about y'all? Anybody else like to tread the beery path less travelled?

Bob-Dubery

deefstes wrote No sure, these days we have wonderful beers to choose from. You probably know that I know that ?

Yes. But I wanted to make sure that the important message got through. South African beer drinkers have never had it so good.

Bob-Dubery

My local is expanding it's selection of local craft beers. The latest arrival is CBC - Cape Brewing Company. Obviously this is part of some plan by Cape brewers to establish themselves in the land of the free before Helen Zille turns the Western Cape into one big dry county.

Anyhoo.... they have four beers (or my local is stocking four of their beers). A pilsener, a lager, a kristall weiss and an intriguingly named "amber weiss". So I have my work cut out for me.

Bob-Dubery

X-rated Bob wrote and an intriguingly named "amber weiss". So I have my work cut out for me.

Which turns out to be an unfiltered weiss. Not bad of it's type, though.

Psean

Psean wrote Next Jozi Craftbeer festival will be taking place on the 4th may at Marks Park Sports Club. Tickets and details here: http://jozicraftbeerfest.co.za/

Bump

EDIT: According to the website they're sold out. Hopefully for any who haven't got tickets that means online pre-sale tickets. Anyway, I got mine ages ago. Looking forward to this one ? :goodtimes:
Another edit: No door tickets available either ☹

deefstes

Psean wrote
Psean wrote Next Jozi Craftbeer festival will be taking place on the 4th may at Marks Park Sports Club. Tickets and details here: http://jozicraftbeerfest.co.za/
Bump

EDIT: According to the website they're sold out. Hopefully for any who haven't got tickets that means online pre-sale tickets. Anyway, I got mine ages ago. Looking forward to this one ? :goodtimes:
Another edit: No door tickets available either ☹

Eish man! You're joking, right? I had planned on attending this one and even invited the in-laws to make a family thing of it. Bummer!

Psean

Unfortunately not ☹ I have friends who'd planned to come and get tickets at the door and are pretty bummed too.
It seems to have really taken off. I went to the first one at Pirates and it was smallish but did so well that they had a second one that same year - now even with the bigger venue this year (I assume it's bigger) it's sold out.

Psean

Sad for those who didn't get tickets ☹

But good news is that it seems to indicate Craft Beer is on the up in South Africa :goodtimes:

There's even a distillery this year

Bob-Dubery

That beer fest was over-subscribed (and/or under prepared last year). I hadn't planned to go because last year it had mostly involved standing in long queues to find that the beer you wanted was exhausted or that the guys selling it didn't know how the payment process worked.

But yes, craft beer is the coming thing in SA and venues with a decent selection are opening up in good old Jozi.

We popped into the Foundry in Parktown yesterday. Now I counted what was on their menu, found out they have some specials that are not on the menu and I can tell you that they have getting on for 40 brews (10 on tap) - and not one of those is SAB or Windhoek. So there may be some consolation there. They also have a couple of craft ciders (imported).

The grub is pretty good, though not cheap. R95 for a bunny chow! OK... that bunny chow is served in "artisanal bread" and I've noticed that when the a.... word gets trotted out things usually get expensive. I had a trio of sausages on potato gnocchi and wilted greens. Very good. Mrs X-rated, who is fussy about her sea food, had the line fish of the day (sea bass) and pronounced herself satisfied.

Their beer selection is skewed toward the IPA/American pale ale side of things. Apparently this style is currently fashionable, but they also had the full range of Darling beers and a couple of Mitchell's on tap.

I have also heard good things about the Griffin in Illovo.

Looking for something more on the cheap and cheerful side of things? Try the Schwabinger in Randburg, good value German (mostly) grub and whilst they offer SAB for the masses they have some more interesting things, including two Drayman's beers (the alt and the weiss) on tap.

Bob-Dubery

Coming up at Maboneng: Urban Craft Beer fest, 3 August.

Psean

X-rated Bob wrote Coming up at Maboneng: Urban Craft Beer fest, 3 August.

Thanks

BluJu

Reading this thread while drinking a Darling Bone Crusher. Nice!

Bob-Dubery

The Smack! Republic brewery in Maboneng is now open. The only day they are open for sales to the public at present is Sunday, market day. The brewery is adjacent to the main market hall and sign posted from that hall.

They have three brews, but don't always have them all on tap.

They do bottle their beers, but aren't supplying bottle stores yet.

Psean

Oh, and anyone had anything from The Standeaven Brewery? http://www.thestandeavenbrewery.co.za/
I saw some of their beers in the Linden bottle store. Didn't get any though - got some CBC stuff.

EDIT:

X-rated Bob wrote Well what's a guitar forum for if one can't talk about beer?

OK... I had a chance to expand my repertoire again on a recent trip to Durban.
... I washed the bunny down with a pint of Standevan African Pale Ale which is brewed with a very high percentage of home grown barley. IMO they got this one wrong as the hops, quite perfumey, overpower everything else - but if you like that blossomy hop flavour (and nose!) then this might do the job for you. I recently had the Standevan weisse which was pretty good, but these are not cheap beers.

Thought I recognised the name - anyway it's available in JHB now.

rikus

Psean wrote

Oh, and anyone had anything from The Standeaven Brewery? http://www.thestandeavenbrewery.co.za/
I saw some of their beers in the Linden bottle store. Didn't get any though - got some CBC stuff.

EDIT:
X-rated Bob wrote Well what's a guitar forum for if one can't talk about beer?

OK... I had a chance to expand my repertoire again on a recent trip to Durban.
... I washed the bunny down with a pint of Standevan African Pale Ale which is brewed with a very high percentage of home grown barley. IMO they got this one wrong as the hops, quite perfumey, overpower everything else - but if you like that blossomy hop flavour (and nose!) then this might do the job for you. I recently had the Standevan weisse which was pretty good, but these are not cheap beers.

Thought I recognised the name - anyway it's available in JHB now.

Why of why can't we have stuff like this in Cape Town? :'( During my last trip to the states I discovered that I love IPA! I've been trying to track down some locally, but without success...

Psean

Rikus wrote Why of why can't we have stuff like this in Cape Town? :'( During my last trip to the states I discovered that I love IPA! I've been trying to track down some locally, but without success...

You have many good breweries in Cape Town.

And you have an IPA day:

On Thursday, Aug. 1, join beer enthusiasts, breweries and bars across the globe in a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India pale ale. Come enjoy 9 craft IPA's over some live music at the Camps Bay Sports Club. Limited tickets available.

rikus

Psean wrote
Rikus wrote Why of why can't we have stuff like this in Cape Town? :'( During my last trip to the states I discovered that I love IPA! I've been trying to track down some locally, but without success...
You have many good breweries in Cape Town.

And you have an IPA day:

On Thursday, Aug. 1, join beer enthusiasts, breweries and bars across the globe in a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India pale ale. Come enjoy 9 craft IPA's over some live music at the Camps Bay Sports Club. Limited tickets available.

Awesome! Thanks for the link!!

Getting the craft beers out in the 'burbs can be a bit of a mission, but that's not really an excuse!

Psean

2013 Craft Beer dates for CT, JHB and DBN:
http://www.thecraftbeerproject.co.za/festivals-events-future/2013-beer-festivals-south-africa/

Bob-Dubery

Some necro-posting to while away the time until Smith declares (which he surely must as he needs a win rather more than Clarke does and thus he needs to make a game of it).

The local is now stocking the now hideously expensive Nottingham Road in blikkies. I am not hostile towards that beer, but since they switched from bottles to tins the price per ml (or per liter) has gone up substantially. Also they have Copperlake, Lakeside (not the same thing) still have the CBC coming in, the full range of Devil's Peak beers, two brews from Citizen, and three or four from Jack Black (the Skeleton Coast is quite tasty). Oh... and some beers under the Wild Beast banner.

The latter seem to me to be quite well suited to people who cling to the old fashioned theory that you haven't had a PROPER beer unless you wake up with a stinking hangover. Their red ale is not bad, but I had one and woke up with a bit of a sore head the next morning. 6% ABV. Beware!

CBC and Draymans are pretty reasonably priced. Citizen is not going to break the bank, but some of these local craft beers are starting to hit the piggy bank quite hard.

I was offered this explanation a while back. It's all down to stricter and more effective enforcement of DUI laws, especially in the W Cape and KZN. The theory goes that an oke used to go out and knock back 8 or 9 Castles in a night. Now I'm not going to get snotty about Castle and start a fight but let's face it, unless that stuff is ice cold it's pretty foul on the tongue (other SAB products are about the same quality). But now said oke is worried about having a chat with the constabulary on the way home. So he does one of two things:
1) He catches taxis or joins one of these "drive me home" clubs. Not cheap, but cheaper than bribery.
2) He tries to get through a night out on less beer - but the stuff he's accustomed to drinking becomes problematic as if he takes it slower it warms up a little and the full horror is revealed. So he drinks craft beers because they actually taste a lot better, even if you are sipping on them which gives them time to warm up a little. But now the breweries and the pubs have to make the same profit out of 2 beers that they used to make out of 6. So the prices get jacked up. This is called free enterprise.

Anyway, the good news is that there are now LOTS of options. The not so good news is that an awful lot of them are starting to taste a bit the same. There's a very hoppy pale ale style that seems to be becoming popular. Several breweries do it now and they all seem to use the same hops and about the same dosage (IE pretty high). I have nothing against a pale ale on principle, but why do they all need to do taste the same? But not everybody goes that route: Tthe Draymans IPA is quite a lot like an English IPA, bitter but differently bitter than the competing brews. Darling, as far as I can see, don't even offer an IPA (English or otherwise).

It's Friday.

Just saying.

Bob-Dubery

PS. Odd Café in Greenside have a reasonable range of craft beers, including Butcher's Block on tap. AND they have pretty fab burgers (Their babelas burger is cheese and bacon but the cheese is haloumi. Yummy!). So that establishment has it's charms.

Stoffeltoo

I am not a bucket brewer but have colleagues who started small a couple of years ago. Last year they took the SAB award at the Clarence beer festival for the best stout. They specialise in malt, weiss and buchu beer. Njam!

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