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 !