OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2021 | 1 From The Editor I rst visited Nottingham Road Brewing Company in 2006. I was in South Africa on a backpacking trip and we were trying to visit as many microbreweries as possible. ere weren’t many around back then, although KwaZulu-Natal had got a designated route supported by the local tourist board. I don’t get up to KZN as often as I’d like so I was amped to be back in December last year. It reminded me what a wonderful bunch of people brewers are. Everywhere I went there was the warm welcome of old friends, even with brewers I’d never actually met before. Much has changed on the KZN ale trail. Many of those breweries from that rst trip 15 years ago have long since closed, but plenty more have opened and if you haven’t taken a trip around the province recently, I highly recommend you rectify that. is year will be a year for domestic travel. Overseas trips are still fraught with uncertainty, but we are lucky to live in such an amazing, diverse country. And planning your trip around the location of some of our microbreweries is a great way to start – you can read our suggested KZN itineraries on page 34. Hopefully a little continental travel will also be on the cards this year – I for one have a deep hankering to visit some of the new craft breweries in Nigeria, Botswana, Rwanda and Tanzania. Since May is Africa month, we asked our readers what would be their perfect spot to sip beer in Africa. Check out their answers on page 64. Picking the perfect beer moment is about more than just the beer. It’s about the setting and the circumstances. While it might not be the best beer I’ve ever tasted, the Nile Special I sipped in Jinja, Uganda on a sweltering evening in 2005 sticks in my mind to this day. I had spent the day rafting the grade ve rapids of the Nile and on more than one occasion I was convinced I was going to die. at post-river beer was a tting end to a fun day, a cheers to camaraderie and most of all a celebration of the fact that we were still alive. It was also the beer that lead me to get together with my now husband, but that’s a story for another day… With festivals cancelled, alcohol bans forever looming in the background and this constant air of uncertainty enveloping every aspect of our lives, 2021 is perhaps not going to be our best year ever, but I hope that in the midst of all the madness, you manage to nd your perfect beer moment this year. And do share it with us – we’d love to hear about it. Creating perfect beer memories Cheers! Lucy Corne EDITOR @LucyCorne