The Hop Farms around George

To the best of my knowledge the only place which hops are grown in South Africa (or for that matter Southern Africa) is a small area between George and Oudtshoorn in the Southern Cape. I seem to recall reading somewhere that once up a time they used to grow some in the Zimbabwe highlands but thinks its highly unlikely that this is still the case seeing that Zimbabwe can't even grow sufficient crops to feed itself these days.

On our way back home from Cape Town we passed through this area and I noticed for the first time road signs showing it as the hop route. Unfortunately I didn't have time to stop and enquire as to whether any of the farms offered tours, but will definitely do so the next time I'm in the area.

There has been some discussion of late on the use of lighting when growing hops outside of the traditional hop growing areas of the world. Lights are used extensively in this area for growing hops and even though at this time of the year the hops have died back, I thought it may be of interest to anyone who grows hops to see a photo of the lights used in the hop fields.

Western Cape Breweries and Brew Pubs Part 2

My second visit to a brewery was really enjoyable, that being the Birkenhead Brewery near Hermanus (and not to far from Cape Agulhas which is the most Southerly point of the African Continent and also where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. The Birkenhead Brewery is named after a ship which sank nearby. Both the ship after which the brewery is named and the brewery itself are interesting, however these details can be found on the brochure (which is included below - click on the image to get a full size view) or on the brewery's website (see the link above).

Anyway enough of the history lessons and on to the tour and the tasting. At the entrance to the restaurant and shop stand the mash tun and kettle behind glass doors. They are both lovely shiny copper and brass and the kettle has a capacity of about 2000 litres. From the kettle the wort is pumped to the primary fermenters where the temperature is controlled by means of glycol. From the fermenters the beer is then pumped into maturation tanks and finally to storage tanks prior to bottling or kegging. The beer is all filtered and pasteurised (the only exception being the honey blond wheat beer, which is a live unfiltered and unpateurised beer.

The price fot tasting was R10 for 6 100 ml tasters and as I was driving 6 500ml glasses seemed out of the question. The six beers together with my comments were :-

Premium Lager - Very pleasant but a bit sweet for my palate.

Lite Lager - More bitter and hoppy than the premium lager, more to my taste.

Old English Bitter - Very Pleasant !

Honey Blonde - See my comments on previous post from Paulaner on wheat beer !!!

Red Reloaded Lager - Not an energy drink, not a beer uugh.

Chocalate Malt Stout - Very Pleasant and we had the right weather for it (cold and windy !)

All in all a most enjoyable and interesting detour from our planned route. Well worth a visit.

Western Cape Breweries and Brew Pubs Part 1

Whilst in the Cape Town area I tried to fit in a couple of Breweries for some tasting (This was a family holiday and so it had to fit in with what the rest of the family were doing). I managed the Paulaner Brewpub on the Cape Town waterfront, which happened to be right next to where we got off the boat after a trip to the infamous Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held for much of the time of his imprisionment).

Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the brewing setup but did manage to taste 3 of their beers. A Lager, a Weissbier and a Dunckel. I don't want to pass comment on the Weissbier because I dislike Weissbier intensely and so any comment of mine is likely to be remarkably biased. The Dunckel was a bit to malty for my palate. Being the first Dunckel I've ever tasted though makes it difficult for me to judge properly. The lager I found to be a bit to sweet for my taste. Having said that I enjoyed both of the beers. A final observation from one of the poor of The Eastern Cape is that the prices, to my mind, appeared to be pitched at foreign tourists. R19.00 for 500ml or R14.00 for 3 100ml tasters is a bit steep.

Moving To The Dark Side

Well I've just come back from a 10 day trip to the West Coast of South Africa. The area known as the West Coast is about 100 kilometres north of Cape Town. Whilst there I spent a couple of very pleasant hours with Leon du Preez a member of the Southyeasters (which is to the best of my knowledge one of only 2 homebrew clubs in South Africa, the other being the much larger Wort Hog Brewers based in Gauteng).



There were 2 reasons for my visit to Leon, the first being to drop off some of my PMS (Perfectly Made Stout) for an upcoming competetion they are having. The reasons for this are, I admit, mostly selfish as I am keen to get some feedback on my beer. Friends locally either think its great (mostly because its free I suspect or possibly politeness) or tell me its great and then ask if I have any Castle (The local megaswill). These opions whilst good for the ego do nothing to help me identify real problems or even pick up where improvements can be made.

The other reason for my visit was simply to spend some time chatting to a fellow homebrewer, it being rather lonely here in Port Elizabeth. It was great to spend a couple of hours talking about homebrewing to a fellow enthusiast, whilst tasting the fruit of someones else's labours. I tried a couple of Leons homebrews which were all very good. It gave me a new respect for what can be done with extract and steeped grains. Far superior to anything I've managed with extract and in fact, I thought, could well hold their own against many All Grain brews !