OnTap Magazine

FEATURE When Joya Taft-Dick arrived in South Africa from the USA in January 2020, she couldn’t have imagined where the year was headed. With socialising strictly off limits, opportunities to make new friends in a new land seemed bleak. But then the craft beer and homebrewing communities stepped up to prove once again that beer really does bring people together. T he cap on the bottle came off with a satisfying hiss. I experienced immediate relief: the beer would at least be carbonated. I poured the contents of the bottle into a glass. The colour looked good, the smell was right, the head at the top seemed proportional. I locked eyes with my husband before we both stared at the glass on the counter between us. “Only one thing left to test,” I said before taking my first sip. Christopher carefully watched my face as I gathered my thoughts. “It….it tastes like beer. I think it might even taste….good!” It was late July of 2020 in Cape Town and we were well into the second government-imposed alcohol ban since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown. My husband and I had moved to the country from the US in mid-January, both to attend graduate programmes here. Two months later, lockdown began. Given our now greatly restricted mobility, as well as the alcohol ban, I decided it was time to finally learn how to homebrew, all-grain style. As a long- time craft beer enthusiast, I had wanted to start homebrewing for a while but had failed to do so, other than a few one-off attempts using extract. Like many others, the lockdown provided the perfect opportunity to fully invest. Little did I know that this venture would provide much more than a new skill set. 20 | Autumn 2020 | ontapmag.co.za