Spinal Tap owner Carl Nienaber samples his wares I’ve been a bit remiss in not writing anything about Spinal Tap Bar, which launched in Cape Town just over a year ago. The bar belongs to Carl Nienaber of Harambe (black IPA) fame and his fabulously talented wife, photographer Marla Burger. It’s a tiny but beautifully decorated place between Observatory and Woodstock. Showings on the big screen are as eclectic as the bar’s décor, alternating between mainstream sports, Japanese anime, cult movies and of course, the rock mockumentary for which the bar is named. Food is kept tasty and simple – w ..read more

Of beer’s four main ingredients, hops are the sexy one. Writers and beer lovers talk about hops and brewers experiment with hops on a different level to malt or yeast or water. Brewers often prominently list hop varietals on their labels and scream about their beer being double dry hopped or triple hopped, and while the hop-based puns have been largely used up in beer names (Hoptimus Prime, Hopportunity Knocks, Hoppenheimer, Hoptical Illusion, Tricerahops…), I’m struggling to think of a single beer with a water-based pun. Very quick educational moment: hops were originally used in beer both f ..read more

  Careful man, there’s a beverage here Right, first up, let’s address the name of this beer. The beer is a collaboration between Cape Town’s Afro Caribbean Brewing Company and Terrapin Beer Co from Atlanta, USA. The founder and brewmaster at Terrapin Beer, Brian Buckowski (better known to all as Spike), is good friends with Afro Caribbean owner Greg Casey and was recently in Cape Town for a holiday – and a collab brew. Spike – a good man, and thorough – wanted proper South African flair in the beer and so the idea to use buchu was born. And also, I assume, one or the other of them is ..read more

Of beer’s four main ingredients, hops are the sexy one. Writers and beer lovers talk about hops and brewers experiment with hops on a different level to malt or yeast or water. Brewers often prominently list hop varietals on their labels and scream about their beer being double dry hopped or triple hopped, and while the hop-based puns have been largely used up in beer names (Hoptimus Prime, Hopportunity Knocks, Hoppenheimer, Hoptical Illusion, Tricerahops…), I’m struggling to think of a single beer with a water-based pun. Very quick educational moment: hops were originally used in beer both f ..read more

Half price pints during happy hour, 4-6pm on a Friday. It has been a while since I last did a Friday Beers post. Which is not to say I haven’t been partaking of the tradition. Indeed this past Friday I was indulging in a few beverages with my best drinking buddy Cam, and with one Robert Heyns, of League of Beers fame. It was the perfect Friday Beers session – in by four, out by six(ish), a few snacks to soak up the pints and a lot of laughs – those great big belly laughs that keep you smiling for a few hours afterwards. The venue was one of my favourite Friday Beers spots: Jack Black Brewin ..read more

Fok indeed. If you’re ever served a beer that looks like this, please send it back Imagine the scene. You’re at a restaurant and your much-deserved dinner arrives. You’re about to cut a slither off the perfectly cooked steak in front of you when, what’s this? There is a blob of something that looks like dried-on curry on your plate – something that has no place being near your ribeye and fries. You signal the waiter immediately and demand a replacement meal on a clean plate. You wouldn’t think twice about sending back a dirty plate in a restaurant and yet people around the world are constan ..read more

Do you know what South Africans love? Beer. Beer is by far our favourite alcoholic beverage and that’s why it has its own day! South African National Beer Day started back in 2017 as a southern hemisphere response to International Beer Day, which falls on the first Friday in August. We were very happy to celebrate that of course – any excuse for a party and all that. But it’s not our best beer drinking time of year, weather-wise – especially if you live in the Cape. And so the industry consulted and decided that the first Saturday in February would be the day. The hangovers of New Year are fo ..read more

As we’re still in January I thought you might still be looking for some kind of goal for 2024. So how about becoming a qualified beer judge? There are various methods and sets of guidelines used in beer competitions around the world, but in South Africa we almost exclusively use the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) guidelines. Founded in the States in 1985, the volunteer-run BJCP publishes guidelines for a vast range of beer styles (around 140 at last count). Originally written to help American homebrewers evaluate their beers in the days when they couldn’t get their hands on classic e ..read more

January is traditionally a time to make lists of rash promises that you have no intention of keeping past the middle of the month. I’ve long since given up trying to convince myself that I’ll be more organised or drink less or ever tidy the mountain of receipts and to do lists and business cards belonging to people I don’t remember meeting from my desk. So instead of making a list of unrealistic goals for myself, I thought I would make a list of hopefully achievable things that I would really like to see in our beer industry this year. Ever since Covid – possibly even before – I feel like SA ..read more

It’s taken me such a long time to get around to writing this that most of the items here probably couldn’t be classed as news any more, but here you go anyway – some things that have been going on in South African craft beer lately: 1000 Hills Brewing Co wins Beer of the Year at SA National Beer Trophy The title of ‘Beer of the Year’ in the annual South African National Beer Trophy went to 1000 Hills Brewing Company in KZN for their FES, a strong British ale. A total of 39 silver medals were awarded, as well as 14 gold medals. There were also seven category winners: Jack Black Brewers Lager (B ..read more