OnTap Magazine

The shaded garden at Buffels Brew is a delightful spot to sip the afternoon away Liquid lunch in the Lost City The bridge leading to the Maze of the Lost City marks the start of your quest for a cold one M any years ago I stumbled across a logo for the Pilanesberg Craft Brewery. ere was no website, no Facebook page to be found. But if there was a logo, there had to be a brewery behind it, right? I kept asking people and eventually learned that the brewery was still in progress but was set to open at Sun City. I thought this was marvellous. A massive company like Sun International betting on craft beer way back in 2014 or 2015. I even managed to track down the brewer at one point, but the only info I have now is that his name was Tim. I checked in periodically with Tim but the concept of the brewery withered away and eventually I relegated Pilanesberg Craft Brewery to my “seemingly not happening” list, in between Holy Goat Brewing and Maison Estate. So when we embarked on a family adventure to the Pilanesberg earlier this year, we made sure to stock up on beers to take with, hitting a couple of Gauteng craft breweries before hitting the road. Our route was not the most direct, passing, of course, by one of only ve craft breweries in the North West province and certainly the newest of the bunch. Bu els Brew opened in 2019 and even on a weekday lunchtime it was buzzing. You can see the attraction – vast monkey thorn trees o er shade in the garden, where kids play on the jungle gym and grownups sip pints that go down easily in the midday Magaliesberg sunshine. Bu els Brew o ers three beers: Kroondal Lager, Magalies Weiss and the Bu els Blonde Ale, which serves as a gentle introduction to hops in an area where most people are accustomed to drinking pale lager. We chatted with owner Hattie Albers, whose rst full year in the beer business played out during the pandemic. Still, he’s optimistic about the future of the brewery and it was clear that the locals – many of whom have German heritage – are proudly supporting Kroondal’s rst craft beer producer. CRAFTED SUNDOWNERS After a hearty lunch, polished o with a sizable slab of cake, we jumped back into our rented Datsun Go and headed to the Bakubung gate of the Pilanesberg National Park. Born in the 1970s, the park boasts the big ve and the high concentration of wildlife inside its fairly modest 550km² borders means sightings are generally abundant. After encounters with a ve- strong herd of white rhino, a full matriarch of elephants, a lone hyena and the usual melange of antelope, zebra and wildebeest, we parked next to a kaleidoscope of gira es (yes, that’s a legit term – I have learned something from my months of homeschooling a seven year old) and cracked open a beer. ere are few situations that compare when it comes to sipping on a cold brew; the lowering sun still giving o heat and the only sounds being birdsong and the slow, rhythmical munching of acacia leaves. We stuck around until the end of our cans of IPA then slowly made our way to the lodge where we promptly emptied out the minibar and lled it with our beverages of choice. Bakubung Bush Lodge is perfect for families. ere’s a mini rangers programme, tennis courts and giant chess, the ubiquitous jungle gym, ping pong tables and a couple of computers in the lounge where kids play online games while adults grab and end-of-day drink and discuss the sightings so far. ere’s even a “hippo cam”, which is seemingly designed for those who want to watch the adjacent watering hole without leaving their bedroom, but which also works as a way for clowning parents to prance around in front of the lodge while the kids watch – and cringe – on TV. On our last night at the lodge we began to plan for the day ahead. We were moving to Sun City, a mere 15-minute drive around the edge of the park, for the ultimate in family relaxation. I scanned the activities and eating options, trying to make a vague plan for our short stay at the resort when something caught my eye. As I opened a menu for one of Sun City’s many bars, there staring at me was the logo for Pilanesberg Craft Brewery, alongside those of various microbreweries from around the region. With ontapmag.co.za | Spring 2021 | 51