OnTap Magazine

Page 32 D o you remember your first craft beer? Chances are you’ve had so many by now that the very first one is tricky to recall (and I mean the first you ever had, not the first this evening…). I came of age drinking real ale in the UK, but I think my first “craft beer” was actually while travelling in South Africa, back when you could count the number of microbreweries on two hands, with plenty of fingers to spare. It was at Boston Breweries in Cape Town and I remember sitting and chatting about the SA beer scene with the brewery’s founder, Chris Barnard. The beer was good, and we gained some excellent insight into the early years of SA craft, but my real beer education happened when I moved to South Korea – it’s where I first got involved with homebrewing, where I sampled the delights of American imports and where I fell in love with lupulin after one sip of a homebrew called “Death by Hops”. This issue we’re kicking off a new section, where we ask you, beery reader, to share your tales of ale. Our first story takes place, as my beer awakening did, in South Korea – check it out o n page 20 and don’t forget to get in touch with your best beer story. You’ll find further beery tales on page 32 where writer Dan Gillespie sits down for a pint and a chat with five inspiring young brewers. Most of these brewers weren’t even born when the first rumblings of a craft beer revolution began in the USA, but they are now making tsunami-sized waves in the South African scene. In fact, this issue we’re giving the nod to all that is young and fresh and new, and to celebrate that we’re also bringing you a new-look magazine. We think it’s sexier than a truckload of hop cones straight from the vine. We hope you do too… Cheers! FROM THE EDITOR Lucy Corne EDITOR @LucyCorne On Tap / Autumn 2018 / 1