OnTap Magazine

THE KINDNESS OF BREWERS After an initial brewing attempt based on a BeerGuevara-provided recipe, I was eager to pivot towards trying a saison, a style of beer I love and that I had noticed can be hard to find in Cape Town. Due to the lockdown constraints however, many of the supply shops were out of various yeast strains, including saisons. On a whim, I sent an email off to the Brewers Co-op – a Woodstock based Co-operative where “multiple beer enthusiasts” collaborate out of one taproom and nano-brewery. After being bounced around between a few friendly but saison-yeast-less members, I was given an email address for Tim. TimBugler is a dentist, but also a strong supporter of all things homebrew-related. As it turns out, he had recently brewed a saison and was able – and willing – to propagate the necessary yeast for me. When asked what I owed him in return for his kind efforts, he replied: “I’m happy to assist anyone wanting to brew. Just a sample of your beer, regardless of the taste, will be fine.” One week later I found myself at Tim’s home, my husband waiting in our small rental car, watching as I knocked on a stranger’s door. After awkward pleasantries made through masks, he handed me a labelled jar containing the precious yeast. He also rather patiently answered several of my novice brewing questions and then encouraged me to stop by the brewery where, once a week, he religiously puts a new recipe through its paces with a fellow brewer. When the government did finally lift the alcohol ban in mid-August, Christopher and I popped down to the Brewers Co-op for a pint. We were pleased, and relieved, to see them still up and running. I chatted with Tinus, the jovial young man behind the counter as he poured our beers, telling him of my recent foray into homebrewing, and expressing my appreciation for the assistance I had received from the Co-op during my yeast search. We talked shop for a while, which included him sharing some additional helpful tips with me – where to look online for specific types of yeast or how to obtain Cape Town’s water profile – before turning his attention to a new customer. EMBRACED BY THE CRAFT COMMUNITY Over the next few months, Christopher and I began spending many a Friday evening at the Co-op, with dinner conveniently provided by the pizza restaurant next door. I would look forward to swapping homebrew stories with Tinus while we sipped on pints of whatever they had on tap. One week, I brought him a bottle of my recently made pumpkin beer, a flavour he, like many South Africans, had never tried. In turn, I soon happily walked home with a bottle of his golden ale. On occasion, a fellow homebrewer would stop by to pour Tinus a taste of their latest concoction and hope for his feedback. If we were lucky and lingering close enough, we might get a taste ourselves. Reliably entertaining conversation usually followed. One Friday afternoon, to diversify our patronage, Christopher and I walked the dog down to Shackleton Brewery, where we enjoyed a pint on their front deck. I recognised Shackleton’s founder and head brewer, Stephen Peel, from a Zoom-hosted homebrewing course I had taken back in April. I introduced myself, principally to thank him for having replied to a rather frantic email I’d sent several months prior, panicking about a possible error during an early brewing attempt. He laughed and asked how things had progressed since, so I gushed about my various flavour experiments. He told me that it always thrills him when novice brewers persist, and then said he’d love to taste one of my beers, should I be willing to bring one by. Our conversation had barely concluded when a group of friends trooped out onto the deck. Initial questions about our dog’s breed quickly segued into a discussion of craft beer and the negative impacts of the lockdown on the industry. One particularly gregarious member of the group turned out to be a fellow homebrewer. “My dentist,” he told me with some pride, “is an avid brewer and a great resource…” I laughed before replying: “That isn’t Tim by any chance is it?” His eyes widened, “Yes, how did you know that?” Later that evening back at the Co- op, I grabbed my pint from the bar and took a seat by the window with a clear view of Table Mountain just beyond a series of brightly graffitied walls. I thought about how this is why I love craft beer. It is a space so often infused with shared enthusiasm and creativity, and sustained by humility and humour. Those are – I would argue – the very qualities that will help this burgeoning industry survive the pandemic-laden world we continue to find ourselves in. Moving forward, a supportive and increasingly inclusive community will be key, and I am seeing evidence of just such a future. When we moved to Cape Town, I did not expect to find a scrappy craft beer scene here. Nor did I anticipate it providing an ample lifeline to community, especially at a time when so many other doors were closed. The craft community at Shackleton, pre-Covid Tim Bugler shared his saison yeast with Joya - you can taste his version on tap at Long Beach Brewery Joya sparges on her new homebrew kit This is why I love craft beer ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2021 | 21