2013 was deemed ’Year of the craft beer’, with the Brewers Association announcing record sales internationally for craft beer.
The explosion of craft beers popularity has taken the market by storm, whether we like it or not we are in some way or another going to be affected by it.
A brewer recently joked with me that while wine makers are waiting for their grapes to ferment they are drinking craft beer. This got me thinking, who are these brewers and how have they come about?
It’s Sunday morning downtown Johannesburg and going here is not something many middle class people do anymore unless it is for a particular reason, moving through the busy streets, past smokey ‘cheesa nyama’ shops, all day ‘shebeens’ are overflowing with inebriated, jolly patrons and noisy kwaito music.
Behind the war like fortress of Ellis park stadium it is a constant fight to get past the bottleneck of un-roadworthy taxis that hoot relentlessly into the ears of their potential passengers. Anyone could easily feel like a fish being lured by a piece of bait, into the area now known as Maboneng.
The Maboneng prescient is situated on the south east corner of downtown Johannesburg, one of the oldest parts of the original city back in 1880, when the area was nothing more than a ‘ boomtown’ in the heat of the gold rush.
Following the first democratic elections in 1994, there was a mass exodus of large businesses from the area, due to a sudden increase of crime that sucked the life out of the inner city, turning it into a no go area.
This left the area now known as Maboneng resembling what could only be described as a ghost town.
The final nail in the coffin could have been when the stock exchange and major banks moved out for the promise of greener pastures of the newly developing area north of the city.
In 2009 a brave entrepreneur by the name of Jonathan Lieberman saw an opportunity to bring this area to life again, in an attempt to bring people back to the inner city he planned to attract lucrative businesses back to the area.
Today this has become one of the most contemporary and exciting places in the city.
Such has been the success of the area that a hive of trendy new businesses have been attracted to the area like a swarm of bees to honey.
The area is now oozing with trend setting restaurants, old school bioscopes, fashionable apartments, luxury hotels, tantalising food markets and even a local brewery to quench the thirst of the city dwellers.
Arts on Main and its Sunday food market are the heart and soul of Maboneng, pushing life into the streets like the heart would pump blood through your veins. This part of the city is alive and well.
Passing through the food market, close your eyes and one could think you were on a busy floor of a stock exchange, but the smells of a thousand delicacies pass through the air and tease the grumbling stomachs of hungry patrons who loudly place their orders with their chosen food merchants.
One thing is for sure ‘the lure of gold’ may be long gone as a reason to be in this part of the city but Smack Republic brewers are mining a resource of a different kind, the golden nectar of which we call craft ale.
The Smack Republic Brewery is small and spotless, nobody would have even thought of it as a brewery in passing, you would need to take a closer look to see bags of hops, beer kegs and taps that are flowing and quenching the thirst of Johannesburg’s devoted beer guzzlers.
The newly developed craft brewery Smack Republic was started by four friends who met in university a few years back, they have been home brewing together since 2009. Currently they have some of the best loved beer in Gauteng, Smack Republics golden ale has already won the best beer by a new brewery award in the SAB Craft Brewing Champs.
Alex Wilmot (25) against all expectations of what we might think a craft brewer might look like, turns out to be a very unassuming man. He wears a light coat of weekend stubble and inconspicuous jersey and jeans like many men at this time of week. He could have quite easily been mistaken for a customer.
Alex got involved in the business six months after it began, he left his position in IT to join his friends in their new venture of brewing craft ale as a profession.
As dedicated home brewers Alex said “they were tired of always drinking beer from Cape Town in Johannesburg” and this was one of the key factors driving these guys from Smack Republic to start brewing full time.
He is now operations manager for Smack Republic Brewery but as he says “working in the brewery is not just about brewing the beer”
Through years of trial and error of home brewing, with many failed batches and trips back to the proverbial drawing board, success did not come easily overnight.
According to Alex “Being dedicated will in turn bring out your creativity in your brewing.” He is self taught and doesn’t believe you need to have a qualification to be a good brewer but rather a passion for beer.
Although being imaginative is part of craft brewing, it seems that the brewers need to find a balance between their creativity and what the market wants.
Smack Republic brewers are clear in their goals to stand out as amongst the rest of the craft beer market and it shows with their unique style, ingredients and location.
They love the city so much they named their beers after iconic parts of town. Maboneng Maverick, Bree Street Belle, Hilbrow Honey, Newtown Nemesis and Braamfontein Brawler.
The art of craft brewing has allowed brewers like Alex to introduce bold and untraditional flavours like vanilla pods and bourbon. He also mentions bringing a local feel to their beer by adding ingredients like honey, rooibos and naartjie. The prime local ingredient however is the tap water ‘we have access to the best tap water in the world in Gauteng and that goes straight into our beer.’
Starting from humble beginnings of 50 litre batches they have swelled their monthly output to 9000 litres and continue to grow.
This is all still relatively small compared to the South African Breweries (SAB) who can make up to 31 million litres of beer a month in Southern Africa.
These micro breweries may be insignificant and unthreatening for SAB but they have started to sprout up all over the country, with many more brewers wanting to be a part of this ever expanding market.
In the UK every little town has a local brewery, now even my hometown has one in South Africa.
Nestled in the south of Johannesburg is the industrial area of Alrode, concealed amongst the factories there is another little gem of a craft brewery.
Neighbouring the sleepy suburban town of Brackenhurst, Swagga Brewery was opened by Les Migdley and his friends in 2014.
Anyone who visits the brewery will be greeted by sound of shouting workers and beeping forklifts that echo through the air, walking through the factory it is certain that it is quite small compared to the likes of an SAB brewery, but no less organised for a smaller operation.
Swagga Brewery is currently brewing seven mouth watering ales under the watchful eye of Justin Goetsch and his mentor Andrew Downs (former SAB brewer).
Andrew is a tall imposing man but quite friendly, most people would come to this conclusion if they were offered a beer shortly after their first handshake with the guy. He is full of jokes he could possibly be a comedian in another life. He has a distinctive character that he says ’every good brewer should have’.
Downs has a great understanding for his work, he has years of experience under his belt, being involved with beer as far back as 1992.He is no longer brewing but currently teaching promising brewers such as Justin the tricks of the trade.
Justin is a much smaller reserved guy with a very astounding beard, explained that he was lured away from being a medic into the world of craft brewing last year when the brewery opened.
Justin said “I was a keen home brewer but need some guidance from Andrew to understand the rules of beer and move to the next level”
Reassuring in the fact that it is not a craft brewer’s requirement to have a beard Justin says “it is fashion choice of my girlfriend, who likes it” Interestingly Justin confirms that the hairs on a moustache could kill the head on your beer so if you are a true beer lover it is not even recommended.
Justin reveals that one of the funniest and difficult things about being a brewer is that you always smell like a brewery after work which poses quite an interesting predicament when he gets pulled over by a metro officer and has to explain that he smell like a brewery because he works in one.
Andrew and Justin love to talk about beer even more than how they got into making beer. In jest they talk about having to drink wine the night before, which they refer to as ‘rotten grape juice’ and decide that the best solution for treating this hangover is to proceed with the beer tasting.
Seeing the beer line like the one at Swagga would makes one feel like a child must feel when entering a frozen yogurt store, seven provoking taps of the freshest craft beer you can imagine. Andrew quips "Anything fresher and it is still brewing”.
Their brewing is more traditional in style but Andrew and Justin both proudly agree that Swagga beers are very drinkable.
Andrew reiterated that the difference between a licensed brewer and a home brewer is ‘you need to have a winning recipe and you need to be able to make it consistently”. He explains that “a good beer is like a baguette in France, delicious if eaten in France, but bring the same baguette to South Africa and the quality will dissipate, as with craft beer the fresher and less travelling it does the better it will be.”
Andrew and Justin both agree that ‘one of the biggest requirements of being a brewer is your passion and understanding of the rules of beer, as is a very scientific process that needs to be followed.’
Exciting as it may sound, behind the scenes these brewers are working hard to brew their beer during the week before going to festivals for anything up to 18 hours on weekends, to set up their stalls and pour their pints to ultimately do some market research.
Such is the admiration for brewers at these festivals, that (off the record) husbands have offered their wives and ladies proposed sexual favours to brewers just to get another pint of quality beer.
The popularity of the brewing profession has definitely been on the rise.
Downs believes in an ‘honour amongst thieves’ towards other brewers and welcomes the competition, ‘if the craft beer industry thrives all the brewers will benefit’.
Home brewers all dream of launching into the industry as famous brewers, but it takes something special to step up and become a licensed brewer, hard work and dedication are a prerequisite, despite the fact it may look glamorous craft brewers are essentially running a business.
General misconceptions may have people think these brewers look like surfers or hippies with long platted beards and wavy hair, they are in fact nothing of the sort.
Alex Wilmot, Justin Goetsch and Andrew Downs are three very different guys they walk among us and look just like everyone else, the distinctive difference is that they love good beer and they know how to make it.
