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T he Liesbeek River begins on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town, just above the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. From there, it carves a meandering path north to where it eventually merges with Black River (or Swartriver). Further north still, the two eventually conjoin with the sea at Table Bay. This modest waterway, spanning just under nine kilometres, played a pivotal role in the history of beer in South Africa as it became the primary water source for the very first breweries in the country. In 1657, five years after Jan Van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape bringing “European beer” with him, Pieter Visage earned the first brewing license for his operation built on the banks of the Lies- beek River. For the next 150+ years, small farm breweries were scattered about the area comprising what is today the New- lands neighbourhood, all benefitting from the fresh and ample water supply. In 1820, a young man by the name of Ja- cob Letterstedt arrived in the Cape, having fled Sweden to avoid charges of tax eva- sion and unsettled debts. He quickly found work as a farmhand for Maria Dreyer, a lo- cal widower, and despite being 18 years his senior, the two were soon married. A fortu- itous 20-something year old Jacob gained ownership of Maria’s money. Some of that money went to purchasing several nearby breweries and then later establishing the Mariendahl Brewery (named after Maria), now considered the “oldest operating commercial brewery” in Africa. (Letterstedt did allegedly later repay his debts during a return trip to Sweden, and founded the Letterstedt Foundation, which provides funding for scholarships and cul- tural projects.) Decades later, in 1889, a man named Anders Ohlsson purchased Mariendahl, as well as the other small breweries in the Newlands vicinity, consolidating them into Ohlsson’s Cape Breweries (OCB). With the purchase of the land and businesses, Ohls- son also acquired the freshwater rights, which remain in place today. Ohlsson was seen by his contemporar- ies as a ferocious businessman. It is for this reason that he came to be represented by a red lion, a figure you will find scattered about Cape Town if you are paying atten- tion. When Ohlsson passed away, OCB made the Lion Lager in his honour, a beer that is of course one of themost well-known South African brands today. OCB was not alone in South Africa: Cas- tle had appeared in Guateng as had Union in KwaZulu-Natal. Those two merged in 1895 to become South African Breweries Ltd (SAB). About 60 years later, in 1956, OCB too stepped under the SAB umbrella. THE OLD AND NEW What we now know as Newlands Brewery has actually been in continuous operation since 1820, albeit the physical brewery it- self was moved and expanded upon a few times over the years. The brewery has been busy producing SAB’s mainstream commer- cial beers such as Castle Lager and Carling Black Label, and while not SAB’s largest production site in the country, Newlands Brewery is definitively the oldest. What did not change, however, was the original Mariendahl Brewery. It was pre- served throughout these shifts in ownership and in 1995, awarded Heritage Status, fur- ther cementing its continued architectural preservation. Nestled within this historic building, and still under the purview of SAB, is a younger company, started in 2015, that is something of a bridge – not only between old and new, but perhaps also between commercial and craft. In order to get their Kaspar Schulz brew- house into theoldbrewery, the folks at New- lands Spring Brewing Company (Newlands Spring) had to take down an entire wall be- fore inserting the shiny new equipment lat- erally, and then rebuilding the wall exactly as it once was, all under the watchful eye of a few Heritage Committee members. Using this equipment (appropriately made by the “oldest brewery machine manufacturer in the world”) Newland’s Spring has the ca- pacity to produce up to about 4,000 hecto- litres of “specialty beer” a year, an amount that would be considered small-scale by most. The idea to start the company dove- tailed with a growing interest in craft beer in the country, which at the time was consid- ered anything other than lager. Ultimately, starting Newlands Spring provided a way to get into alternative beer styles, all the while maintaining the company-wide ethos to “champion the heritage,” as head brewer Warren Wiese explains. NURTURING A BEER ENTHUSIASM Warren Wiese studied microbiology at the University of Pretoria. During his third year, he realized he was more drawn to the ap- plication of the subject than to lab work. A course on food microbiology honed his interests further still, and when one of his lecturers happened to be a former employ- ee of SAB, he found himself pivoting in the beer direction. While in his honours year, he had the opportunity to pursue a Diploma from the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD), later followed by their Master Brew- er Diploma. In 2007 he received his first job offer with Alrode Brewery (owned by SAB) where he worked for eight years in various ascending roles. In 2015 he heard Fransen Street Brewery inChamdor was reopening, a place that had a similar setup to what Newland’s Spring would become, where you have a small test facility inside an SAB-owned brewery. War- ren transferred there and ran Fransen Street for three years. In January of 2018 he was offered a job at Newlands Brewery, with the admitted hopes of eventually moving over to Newlands Spring – a hope that was re- alized faster than he anticipated. When the previous brewer – Julriech Farmer – took another job in July, Warren became New- lands Spring’s Head Brewer. Warren recounts how he was still home- brewing during those early years at Alrode and specifically mentions Mike Heydenrych from Gauteng-based WortHog Brewers club who supported and encouraged his experimentation. He also recalls how as a student and working at a furniture shop, he would frequent a Makro in Centurion with a colleague to buy beer. “I used to buy a different beer every weekend after work, something I’d never tried…I must say, they 2024 Edition of 10,000 Miles 28 | Spring 2024 | ontapmag.co.za