OnTap Magazine

30 | Autumn 2026 | ontapmag.co.za keen supporters of the craft beer industry. This is evident by the respect most craft brewers show towards the groups, often by opening their doors for club meetings and/or offering their services as judges in regional and national beer competitions. The culture runs on a model of paying forward. A distinct shift in the way homebrew clubs interacted with one another began in 2022, when the first National Club Championship was held at the Fools & Fans Beer Festival, coupled with a homebrew exhibition day. This was by no means the first homebrew festival in South Africa — there had been homebrew festivals in Gauteng and Cape Town throughout the 2000s. What was different was that this festival brought homebrewers from all over South Africa to one place and created a networking opportunity with the commercial craft breweries in attendance as sellers and judges. The prospect of friendly competition incentivised participation, but it also gave an outcome- driven direction to both clubs and individual homebrewers. A brewer could gauge their brewing level, while learning from fellow brewers, and the clubs could identify where their members might need improvement. Afterthisfirstevent,therewasaminiature boom in homebrew clubs opening in South Africa. Many of these were in the Western Cape, due to geography: how far you have to Uber impacts how regularly you can attend meetings, and that in turn has an effect on why and where some regional clubs popped up. Nationally, the number of clubs has grown from six to 19, all of which will participate in 2026’s edition of the Fools & Fans National Club Championship and homebrew exhibition. A PIVOT BACK TO COLLABORATION One of the unintended consequences of a competition, however, is that it can make clubs look inward. They may try to get an edge for the next competition by closing off meetings or by participating less in national discussions of “what makes good beer.” A culture needs to be created of cooperation beyond just competition. There are practical reasons for meetings to be closed to members, such as considerations for member benefits, but there now seems to be a growing sense of wider collaboration. In January, the Helderberg Homebrew Club hosted their monthly meeting at Cape Brewing Company. The meeting included an educational talk on West Coast IPAs. What made this event different from the more typical club meetings was that it was open to all clubs and their members. The West Coast IPA happens to be the next competition category at the National Club Championship at Fools & Fans, meaning that this event levelled the playing field. This sort of pivot reignites the collaborative spirit between homebrewers. This is not only good for the growth of the sector, but it also means that the local craft brewery hosting such an event, often after hours, gets a very personal level of engagement with beer geeks and influencers, which ultimately grows their brand presence and contributes to growing the beer category as a whole. Other clubs are following suit with open events. When you take into account that it is usually the humble homebrewer that ends up opening craft breweries, fostering this relationship — between established breweries and future brewers looking to take the leap — is an important component of the homebrew club. Another developing collaboration is the one between the homebrew scene and the well-established university brewing scene. University team brewers have started to filter into the homebrew clubs. In turn, these clubs add value to their educational pursuit of the coveted annual Intervarsitybrew competition in Bloemfontein. (The winning university team gets to take part in the Fools & Fans National Club Championship the following year.) These are students who may end up working in the wider beer industry, developing their art through the small-scale homebrew setups available to them. This collaboration adds a new layer of educational cross- pollination. If the current group of homebrew chairs keeps true to the spirit of collaboration and the sharing of knowledge, the industry is indeed sitting with a very healthy pipeline of future craft brewers: an essential component to a sustainable craft beer scene. Helderberg Homebrew Club hosted their January meeting at CBC