OnTap Magazine

O ver a series of meetings, we discuss what it takes to build a brewery in a country that with some unique challenges like load shedding and water shortages, not to mention alcohol bans and overly laborious red tape. But they are such positive people, that we hardly spend any time moaning about the problems, rather our conversations nearly always move towards what they can control. This is an embodiment of the craft beer spirit; the pursuit of quality beer is worth the hassle. Every story, however has a beginning and Lilypatrick is made up of 3 partners, Boeta and Thea De Koker and Frank Geraghty. The name Lilypatrick, is a merge of their combined eldest children’s names, Lily and Patrick. But the story doesn’t begin in Stellenbosch, as is often the case. Every journey starts somewhere else. Lilypatrick, is a merge of their combined eldest children’s names For a bit of context, we jump back in time to the United Kingdom at the turn of the century. Two young people exploring the world outside of South Africa, expanding their world views, regardless of the intent or expectations. But with Thea having been brought up in Mbombela and Boeta being a Stellenbosch boy, it was only natural curiosity to ask how they met; what set this journey in motion? “I was doing electric work and lived in Putney Heath,” Boeta reminisces. “A beautiful place, beside the cricket green. My parents came to visit one year and we took a trip up to Scotland.” More specifically, to Inverness, the northern- most town on the Loch Ness overlooking the Beauly Firth and Moray Firth. He met a few of Thea’s friends in the pub where they were all staying, although she only arrived the day after. Thea was working in a hotel in London on the border of Fitzrovia. This area was famous for its bohemian nature once upon a time and a meeting place of big writers and philosophers like George Orwell and Virginia Wolff. It is an old part of town tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Tottenham Court Road. It was her trip to Scotland to meet up with friends that put her and Boeta on a collision course. From this chance meeting, suddenly there were two, and they grew into their beer obsession as a couple. London, leaves her indelible stamp on all that pass through. She is a culturally diverse society with ideas from many corners around the world conversing within her narrow streets. Boeta and Thea found the world of beers in pubs, the IPAs, the Stouts, the Best Bitters and inadvertently developed a taste for diverse styles of beer. But beyond British and American beers, they also discovered Belgos, which was a chain of Belgian restaurants in London with a Belgian sized beer menu to boot. (Sadly, the restaurants all closed down during the pandemic, but this was once the spot for authentic Belgian mussels and imported beers.) “We had a mission to drink every beer on the menu,” Boeta laughs. The menu was a fairly hefty one with at least 30 beers available from all over Belgium. We had a mission to drink every beer on the menu “I drank from the top and he from the bottom,” Thea interjects, which could have been an error of judgement, since they soon figured out that the beers were arranged by strength. There are some glasses purchased from the restaurant that is proudly displayed in Lilypatrick as part of the décor; a homage to these early and exciting days in London. On returning home from the United Kingdom, Boeta and Thea dabbled in the taproom space by running the bar at the Van Der Stel clubhouse in Stellenbosch. They opened an air conditioning and cooling business and even got married at the club.. The next part of the story starts where Boeta meets Frank the fly-half and occasional fullback of their rugby team. Frank was a homebrewer and as these Thea and Boeta De Koker Entrance and menu The Pizza oven and outside seating ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2023 | 19