OnTap Magazine

22 | Autumn 2026 | ontapmag.co.za INHERITORS OF A TRADITION A thread for me, throughout this conversation and ones I seem to keep having, is the broader “beer narrative.” In a word: beer gets short shrift. For one of the most consumedbeverages in theworld, and one that competes with bread over the role of evolving humans from hunter-gatherers to agrarians, it is rarely considered worthy of the academic attention or nuanced media coverage it deserves. Back when Tara was actively pitching beer stories to mainstream or non- beer publications, even food and wine publications, she tells me it was hard to get much attention. It seemed mainstream editors felt their readers wanted to know about wine and spirits, but not beer. There were a number of beer publications that tried to take up the mantle of beer and culture, but most of those publications are gone now. Tara reminds me that right now in the U.S., the media is in a slump, alcohol sales are stagnant at best, dropping at worst, and beer is suffering as much, if not more. This triumvirate hardly makes for fertile fields of interest in the history or nuances of beer styles. That being said, Tara does argue that craft beer specifically has, over the years, done an “excellent job” of elevating the conversation and educating the public. I agree, and in fact, I think we have solid evidence of that right here in South Africa. I tell Tara that, unlike those many Americans who think Germans invented beer in the Middle Ages, South Africans are more likely to be aware that it was the women in this region who brewed the traditional umqombothi for millennia. This heightened awareness may be because it is something still done in some areas of the country, albeit less frequently. I tell her about Intervarsitybrew TM and how many young, female participants informed me that the beers they had brewed for the competition were inspired by their grandmothers or at least a nod to that regional history. Many of these students had never considered beer brewingeither somethingawoman couldor should pursue, or a serious potential career path. Their time in the Intervarsitybrew TM program changed that, due in part to that reconnection with a history that makes them inheritors of a tradition based both on gender and geography. I also tell Tara about how a sorghum, umqombothi farmhouse aleblendwonBest Beer in Africa at the African Beer Cup last year, a win that reflects a growing interest here in using locally sourced ingredients and flavours that better reflect an “African” palate, so to speak. Yes, it’s true that your average beer consumer in South Africa, and elsewhere on the continent, still consistently turns to commercial lager; it is the known and trusted entity. But it’s craft’s inherent emphasis on local inspiration and flavour creativity that can better tap into new audiences and markets. “Yes to untapped markets!” Tara enthuses, hearing all of this, before conceding, “Craft beer [in the U.S.] probably wouldn’t be having the issues that it is if owners and marketing departments looked outside of the previously targeted demographics.” Take the Latinx population in the U.S. as an example: “They are beer drinkers! Research has shown that they do drink craft beer and would drink craft beer, and yet so few breweries are talking to them,” except for maybe in parts of Texas and southern California. In terms of further getting out of silos, she emphasizeshowimportantbeerfestivalscan be in bringing in and educating newbies in a fun environment. Here again, I think about how South African craft beer is increasingly doing this well. She also suggested looking at the legal cannabis industry that seems to have avoided making some of the mistakes craft beer did, and has generally captured a younger and more diverse workforce and consumer base. ADDRESSING AN INTENTIONAL ERASURE The work Tara has been doing since 2005, this effort to pull women from the sidelines and footnotes to center stage, to trace their contributions from the earliest of human activity, all the way to the Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements of the early 2020s, isn’t just some nod to “diversity and inclusion.” It addresses a very intentional erasure from history that has a direct impact on people today. In her preface, Tara acknowledges the “unprecedented number of female and BIPOC historians and archivists [who] have emerged to laboriously recreate these missing drafts of history,” across disciplines. I think about those tearful brewers in New Orleans who, having learned about their ancient and present-day connection to the beverage they love, decided not to walk away. I think about the Intervarsitybrew TM team that named all their beers after prominent women or African Queens, standing proud in their heritage. Fortunately, there are many now called to this kind of work, to this widening and deepening of our collective understanding and appreciation of this underestimated libation. It gets said a great deal here in South Africa, but broader education is still needed. This is something Tara, as a member of the education committee at the Pink Boots Society, and her colleagues continue to champion. Connections and conversations between women in beer are still necessary, but we know now, with so much more clarity, what broad (no pun intended) and inspiring shoulders we stand on. Ultimately, it is because of the growing number of known women in beer, past and present, that Tara believes her book “has no end.” Tara Nurin and South Africa's very own Obakeng Malope, founder of Beer is Art