OnTap Magazine

18 | Autumn 2019 | ontapmag.co.za Send it to lucy@ontapmag.co.za and you might just see your name in print. If your story is chosen for publication, you’ll get a year’s subscription to On Tap on us! SEAN BUTLER O n a classic summer's day my wife dropped me at Noordhoek beach so I could go for a surf. I was planning to walk back home after the surf, so, before getting out of the car, I looked for some money and could only nd R20 which I tucked into my wetsuit's key pocket. "I saw there's a new brewery on Beach Road," I explained to my wife. "I'll pop in on the way home." e surf was great (with the setting of Chapman's Peak the surf is great even when it's not!) and the walk home in the hot afternoon sun after sur ng the Dunes was energy- sapping. Stopping at the Aegir Project Brewery in my wetsuit, I pulled out my R20 and asked if there was anything I could get for my damp note. "Of course," was the friendly reply, but the challenge came in having to decide which beer I wanted to drink. Rory, founder of Aegir, had ve craft beers on tap. Which one would you like? Porter? IPA? Pale ale? Red rye? 90 Shilling? In my mind and experience a beer was...a beer, right? Light in colour, sometimes bitter, sometimes dry...er...never sweet? at was all I knew to be beer. While being ignorant about what I was being o ered, I was intrigued by these exotic sounding drinks and settled on an IPA named Giant. I took my drink and surfboard and sat on the steps by the brewery and instantly fell in love with the Giant IPA. Aptly named, it is full of avour and is the perfect summer drink. It has indeed become my rm favourite. e weariness of my body, the refreshing taste of the IPA was...well, intoxicating. After nishing my drink I returned the glass, collected my board and headed home resolving to return soon. But, as I headed o I was stopped by a rather large, dreadlocked tourist who was sitting at the restaurant next door. "Oy, you just been for a surf?" he asked. "Ya," I replied. "And then you came here for a beer?" "It's on my way home," I answered. "Aah, that's amazing!" he responded in his foreign accent. We smiled and I wandered o home very aware of how fortunate I am to live here in the fairest Cape and to have access to such quality refreshment. It was a day which changed my enjoyment of beer forever. e remarkable creations that are possible when crafting beer are now regularly experienced at Aegir where I confess I can be found most Fridays! While being ignorant about what I was being offered, I was intrigued by these exotic sounding drinks GOT A BEERY TALE TO SHARE? WIN AWAKENING A GIANT