The Evolving Craft Beer Scene of South Africa

Loxton Lager is brewed under contract by Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela, one of the country’s few female craft brewers, at Brewhogs brewery on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Loxton is brewed alongside Apiwe’s own beers, all of which speak of her proud South African roots and her brewing background with SABMiller. While the rest of the country attempts to get their lager-loving public to embrace the IPA, Brewhogs are trying to lure the IPA drinkers back to the beer that they started out on. In their range is a pilsner, a red lager, an India Pale Lager (IPL) and a black IPL.

“Lagers are much more interesting than many beer drinkers – and brewers – think, and our aim is to show South African drinkers that lagers can have the same variety in color, flavor and aroma [as ales],” Apiwe says. You might think that drinkers flock to the Brewhogs stand at a beer festival because they see ‘lager’ etched on the chalkboard menu but that’s not the case.

“What I find interesting is that a lot of beer drinkers still refer to our beers as ales,” explains Apiwe. “Most South African beer drinkers consider a lager to be ‘what SAB and Heineken make’ – everything else is considered an ale, so I have to do a lot of educating and explaining.”

Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela (front left) is one of the country’s few female craft brewers at Brewhogs, which delivers interesting styles to its lager-loving public.

Although it’s growing rapidly, the South African scene is still very young and there is a lot more for drinkers – and brewers – to learn. But the thirst for beer knowledge is almost as strong as the thirst for the beer itself. There are half a dozen major festivals around the country each year, homebrewing shops are cropping up all over the place, courses and conferences are beginning to take hold and while the vast majority of bars still offer only SAB lagers, there are a growing number of restaurants with more than 20 taps of local craft beer to choose from.

South Africa might still be a land of lagers, but on IPA day, groups of beer lovers will descend on taprooms, brewpubs and dedicated beer bars to work their way through flights of local IPAs. Some pints might be flavored with buchu or rooibos and others will feature coconut, roasted malt or bushels of imported C-hops, but all will be raised to toast a young, flourishing industry at the southern tip of Africa.

Photos Courtesy of Lucy Corne, except where noted.