This guy is way fancy with his bags, but this is a nice intro to brew your own good craft brew. A lot of local South African suppliers of all hardware and ingredients. Note: there are however quicker methods that can also produce an "award winning" beer, but at a little higher price tag ingredient wise, but still cheaper and tastier than any commercial beer. The cheapest way as used by all craft brewers are "All Grain" brewing, but that's a 6 to 8 hour job per batch:
Bottling Day
- Thread starter CraftyZA
- Start date
History of Beer in South Africa (just some feckin trivia for our piss-cats)
Most South Africans tend to be a jovial bunch. We love being outdoors, we love our srugby, we love to braai and most importantly, we LOVE to drink beer. And we do it well!
We’re home to a great beer consumption culture, and we’re pretty brand loyal. However, the beer landscape seems to have shifted into a new gear over the last few years with the advent of many microbreweries around the country, thank God for that. While the majority of beer consumed will continue to come from the major commercial brewers, a new market is emerging that enjoys more of the craft brewed variety.
Where did it all start?
A certain Jan van Riebeeck (the cause of load shedding as you already know) and his merry crew landed in the Cape in 1652. Shortly after in 1664, the first private brewing licenses were granted to four producers, who were given specific areas from which to operate and only allowed to produce small quantities. However, due to the lack of quality brewing ingredients, the majority of beer was brought in by ship and the Dutch East India Company therefore retained control of the supply of the beverage.
Some 40 years later, the Governor of the Cape took a more positive approach to the beer supply and sent for the ‘brewer’ Rutger Mensing. Upon his arrival, he was granted a substantial piece of land in what is currently known as Newlands and surrounds, and in 1696, Mensing produced his first batch of malt beer. Some of this beer was sold to Dutch East India Company as it was deemed necessary for the health of the sailors (who said beer was bad for you?) and the rest to the public in casks.
The brewery was then left to Mensing’s wife, Gerbregt, and his son Willem, who was a bit of a philanderer with a particular fondness for the slave women. Gerbrech, who was the holder of the brewing licence, Amstel and Carling Black Label, was said to be a feisty women who ended up alienating the customers, so in 1713, Willem was forced to sell the brewery to Rudolf Steenbok. After this time, various people were licensed to produce beer in the area. Most significantly, in 1783, Dirk Gijsbert van Reenen obtained a brewer’s license and set about trying to improve the quality of beer which was still largely reliant on using imported, dried hops. The most important factor in doing so was his decision to plant hops on his farm near Swellendam, which as it turns out, led to the development of George as a hops growing area.
Up until 1795, beer was still primarily being produced for the Dutch East India Company under monopolistic conditions. After the control of the Cape changed hands to the British in the early 1800s, the principles of free trade were implemented to the detriment of the brewers who had paid ‘handsome’ figures to brew beer under the Amstel and Carling Black Label monopoly system. This resulted in the properties changing hands under British rule, ushering in the new breed of modern breweries.
In the 1840s, Jacob Letterstedt, a well-connected businessman with varied interests, set up Mariendahl Brewery and Josephine’s Mill, making use of the natural spring water from Newlands Spring for the brewing of his beer. He also imported modern, updated equipment and expertise, which resulted in much better quality beer than was previously available. At the same time, there was another substantial brewing operation, Newlands Brewery, which was situated below the current Forrester’s Arms and brewed much more beer than Mariendahl Brewery.
In 1864, Anders Ohlsson came to the Cape and by 1881 had bought up a variety of commercial enterprises, one of which was a mill not far from the breweries. He had assessed that brewing had a bright future and proceeded to purchase properties in the area. In 1888, Ohlsson ended up leasing the Mariendahl Brewery and Josephine’s Mill with an option to buy all the leased properties and water rights from Newlands Spring. In this time he had also negotiated purchase of or rights to a number of other breweries in the area, namely the Martienessen Brewery, the substantial Cannon Brewery, and eventually the Newlands Brewery after the death of its owner.
Around the time that Ohlsson was consolidating his interests in the Cape, a new brewery was launched upcountry. With the discovery of gold and the subsequent establishment of Johannesburg at the epi-centre of the gold rush in the Transvaal, South African Breweries was founded in 1895, and Castle Lager was launched the same year.
Over years, particularly during the outbreak of war and the Depression years, South African Breweries and Ohlsson worked closely to secure the supply of barley and hops, which resulted in the establishment of commercial hops farming in the George area in 1935. South African Breweries continued their expansion into other territories, including Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). By 1953, they had built a modern brewery in Isando, and by 1956, they had bought out their rivals, Ohlssons and Union Brewery, after the government had applied major pressure through taxation and banning of alcohol sales to black consumers. The purchase of the two breweries allowed SAB to effectively eliminate competition as they could rely on economies of scale and distribution.
In 1962, the prohibition of liquor sales to the African market was lifted and this led to major growth in the sector. This was followed by SAB gaining the licenses to brew, Amstel and Carling Black Label. (Guinness available in the South African Market is brewed in Zambia due to poor water quality in S.A).
Most South Africans tend to be a jovial bunch. We love being outdoors, we love our srugby, we love to braai and most importantly, we LOVE to drink beer. And we do it well!
We’re home to a great beer consumption culture, and we’re pretty brand loyal. However, the beer landscape seems to have shifted into a new gear over the last few years with the advent of many microbreweries around the country, thank God for that. While the majority of beer consumed will continue to come from the major commercial brewers, a new market is emerging that enjoys more of the craft brewed variety.
Where did it all start?
A certain Jan van Riebeeck (the cause of load shedding as you already know) and his merry crew landed in the Cape in 1652. Shortly after in 1664, the first private brewing licenses were granted to four producers, who were given specific areas from which to operate and only allowed to produce small quantities. However, due to the lack of quality brewing ingredients, the majority of beer was brought in by ship and the Dutch East India Company therefore retained control of the supply of the beverage.
Some 40 years later, the Governor of the Cape took a more positive approach to the beer supply and sent for the ‘brewer’ Rutger Mensing. Upon his arrival, he was granted a substantial piece of land in what is currently known as Newlands and surrounds, and in 1696, Mensing produced his first batch of malt beer. Some of this beer was sold to Dutch East India Company as it was deemed necessary for the health of the sailors (who said beer was bad for you?) and the rest to the public in casks.
The brewery was then left to Mensing’s wife, Gerbregt, and his son Willem, who was a bit of a philanderer with a particular fondness for the slave women. Gerbrech, who was the holder of the brewing licence, Amstel and Carling Black Label, was said to be a feisty women who ended up alienating the customers, so in 1713, Willem was forced to sell the brewery to Rudolf Steenbok. After this time, various people were licensed to produce beer in the area. Most significantly, in 1783, Dirk Gijsbert van Reenen obtained a brewer’s license and set about trying to improve the quality of beer which was still largely reliant on using imported, dried hops. The most important factor in doing so was his decision to plant hops on his farm near Swellendam, which as it turns out, led to the development of George as a hops growing area.
Up until 1795, beer was still primarily being produced for the Dutch East India Company under monopolistic conditions. After the control of the Cape changed hands to the British in the early 1800s, the principles of free trade were implemented to the detriment of the brewers who had paid ‘handsome’ figures to brew beer under the Amstel and Carling Black Label monopoly system. This resulted in the properties changing hands under British rule, ushering in the new breed of modern breweries.
In the 1840s, Jacob Letterstedt, a well-connected businessman with varied interests, set up Mariendahl Brewery and Josephine’s Mill, making use of the natural spring water from Newlands Spring for the brewing of his beer. He also imported modern, updated equipment and expertise, which resulted in much better quality beer than was previously available. At the same time, there was another substantial brewing operation, Newlands Brewery, which was situated below the current Forrester’s Arms and brewed much more beer than Mariendahl Brewery.
In 1864, Anders Ohlsson came to the Cape and by 1881 had bought up a variety of commercial enterprises, one of which was a mill not far from the breweries. He had assessed that brewing had a bright future and proceeded to purchase properties in the area. In 1888, Ohlsson ended up leasing the Mariendahl Brewery and Josephine’s Mill with an option to buy all the leased properties and water rights from Newlands Spring. In this time he had also negotiated purchase of or rights to a number of other breweries in the area, namely the Martienessen Brewery, the substantial Cannon Brewery, and eventually the Newlands Brewery after the death of its owner.
Around the time that Ohlsson was consolidating his interests in the Cape, a new brewery was launched upcountry. With the discovery of gold and the subsequent establishment of Johannesburg at the epi-centre of the gold rush in the Transvaal, South African Breweries was founded in 1895, and Castle Lager was launched the same year.
Over years, particularly during the outbreak of war and the Depression years, South African Breweries and Ohlsson worked closely to secure the supply of barley and hops, which resulted in the establishment of commercial hops farming in the George area in 1935. South African Breweries continued their expansion into other territories, including Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). By 1953, they had built a modern brewery in Isando, and by 1956, they had bought out their rivals, Ohlssons and Union Brewery, after the government had applied major pressure through taxation and banning of alcohol sales to black consumers. The purchase of the two breweries allowed SAB to effectively eliminate competition as they could rely on economies of scale and distribution.
In 1962, the prohibition of liquor sales to the African market was lifted and this led to major growth in the sector. This was followed by SAB gaining the licenses to brew, Amstel and Carling Black Label. (Guinness available in the South African Market is brewed in Zambia due to poor water quality in S.A).
Another interesting fact is that anyone can go down to Newlands and collect water from the spring feeding the brewery. Just take your own bottle and its free.
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