OnTap Magazine

South Africa’s northernmost provinces don’t boast an abundance of breweries, but beer is out there if you know where to look. Lucy Corne explores Limpopo and Mpumalanga in search of a pint. NORTHERN I t became a kind of underground mantra; a secret question uttered among those in the beery know. “Have you been to Zwakala yet?” they’d whisper, tilting their heads with a sorry sigh when you replied in the negatory. Well I’d had enough of their smug smiles and their “ag shame” looks. I was tired of being in the sorry group that had not visited this near-mythical place. I’d met the brewer, I’d tasted the beers, I’d seen the brewery grow from afar. It was time to finally visit Zwakala. For those of you still in that sorry group (shame, man), Zwakala is one of the most idyllically located breweries in South Africa. It’s the kind of brewery where the owners tell you to ignore Google Maps’ effort at helping you reach your destination, instead providing their own directions. It’s the kind of brewery where, once you get onto the network of tree-lined dirt tracks that serve as an approach road, you have to keep your eyes peeled for signs nailed to trees or arrows painted on rocks , or else end up dropping in at the homestead of some old-timer’s fruit farm, wondering where you went wrong. It is the kind of brewery that you don’t want to leave. FARM LIFE Zwakala, meaning “come closer” is 10km from Haenertsburg in Limpopo. Run by the boundlessly welcoming Tooley family, the brewery opened in 2016. The whole family pops in and out of the brewery, but it is Luca Tooley who is the face of Zwakala. Luca is one of those people that when you picture them, they’re always smiling. He somehow reminds me of a St Bernard puppy; always full of energy and pleased to see you. As we arrive, he hands us a cold glass of Limpopo Lager and shows us around. A fresh batch of the lager is being transferred to the fermenters and piles of warm spent grain sit waiting to fulfil their destiny as lunch for the sheep. Zwakala is a farm brewery. Based on the family’s 50-hectare farm which, rather than producing fruit or vegetables on any great scale is perhaps best described as a lifestyle farm, There are walking and biking trails, there is a charming kids’ play area in the garden and, hidden away close to the river, there are chalets and a small campsite. It is the perfect destination for a weekending beer lover – even if their family isn’t so into ale. We check into Cob House and I am instantly in love. Simply but stylishly decorated, the cottage is quiet, secluded and best of all, there is no electricity or cell phone reception. On an average day I spend way too much time clutching my phone, just in case some urgent GIF gets What’s Apped or some random person in Romania or Brazil likes one of my tweets. So to be without it, to spend time breathing the air and listening interacting with the people sitting across from me rather than the aforementioned Romanian randoms, well, it is a retreat in itself. BREWERS It is the kind of brewery that you don’t want to leave ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2019 | 31