OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Spring 2025 | 15 F rom the moment you walk into the Jack Black taproom in Diep River, you can feel this place is special. With smiling faces, strings of lights frame the brewery’s outside seating area, reiterating that this is the place to be. The look and feel, bring with it the atmosphere that lures you in for hours, while sampling their wide range of craft beers and artisanal foods. When you walk in deeper, through the outside seating area, decorated with hanging plants and more soft lighting, you are greeted by an old silo from a local malting plant of pre-pandemic times. This space is where industrial meets rooftop garden. However, if you thought that was alluring, the interior of the building brings you right to the heart of the brewery. Visible at the far end of the room, the Kaspar Schulz brewhouse leaves you in no doubt of where you are. Behind it, the wall is painted black with a rhino and the famous Jack Black star. It brings an artisanal feel to the space and the layout places you firmly inside the action. Jack Black has a reputation around South Africa for having a clear focus on the customer experience. For nearly two decades they have been producing high quality beer, full of flavour, and following through with consistency. This, as well as their community projects and focus on growth has given the brand the staying power needed to flourish in a highly competitive industry. THE SPARK: Ross and Meghan McCulloch, the founders behind the brand started their journey in Canada in the wine business. “I got into the wine sales side of the business working for a very large family-owned winery based in California.” Ross explains. “I was in the Canadian office and [working in] the restaurants sales side in Vancouver. I then worked my way to national role looking after a sales team across Canada.” He admits, it was very hard work, but it taught him a lot about the industry. Meghan was a sommelier and worked in PR for wine companies. Hailing from Vancouver, the two met while working in the wine industry in Canada. It was while on holiday in South Africa that Ross and Meghan noticed the absence of craft breweries and having worked across North America, they had witnessed the growth of the craft beer scene. At that time, the industry was doing very well. However, in South Africa, the trend hadn’t quite caught on yet. “Coming back to South Africa on vacation, I saw that there was not much craft beer.” During that time there was a handful of craft breweries in South Africa and with limited distribution, craft beer was hard to find. There just weren’t many with independent taps in the market. “I saw this growth in North America and thought, that could be an opportunity in South Africa.” A South African friend in Vancouver, who owned Russel Brewing Company had invited Ross to join his beer business, but instead, having spotted the opportunity in South Africa, Ross and Meghan decided to move out to South Africa and start a craft beer company. “I convinced [Meghan] to come to South Africa with me - we weren’t married at the time - to try this whole beer business together.” They were both up for this big move and they thought that if it didn’t work out, they would be able to return to Canada and go back into wine sales. They developed a recipe with their friend from Vancouver for a defined style of beer call pre-prohibition lager which needed to be tweaked to cater for local malts and hops. It was the early days, so supplies to small brewers were limited. They approached Birkenhead Brewery in Stanford to manufacture their beers, because, “…that allowed us to focus The early days, Meghan and Ross