OnTap Magazine

OT: What has been the greatest moment of your career so far at Birkenhead? B: I started as a general worker the day the brewery opened its doors; I worked very hard and was shortly involved with the brewing process /y greatest moment was when + finally started brewing on my own and seeing the joy on the customers faces when they drink my beer. It’s a wonderful experience to look at a smile and think... I did that. A: I only recently started at Birkenhead Brewery. My main obLective was not to maMe new beers but maMe our eZisting beers better 9e entered two oH our beers in the 9orld $eer #wards and won awards Hor both oH them so + am very proud oH this achievement. OT: So what is the secret to staying in business in the beer industry for all these years? A: Service delivery and a solid relationship with customers and suppliers. Most of our relationships are as old as the brewery. OT: And what has been the biggest challenge? B: In the early days we struggled to convince the consumer that there is more to life than the tried and tested mass-produced We always think of our beer industry as being in its infancy, but this year Birkenhead Brewery, based in Stanford, celebrates its 20th birthday. We chatted to Birkenhead’s brewers, Benson Macupe and Alexander Krosnov about the milestone anniversary. beers but the Hact that we introduced something diHHerent to a lager our *oney $londe recipe is years old helped a lot in this regard OT: Have you seen any change in your clientele over the years? B: Drastically! Our consumers changed from the select few to the everyday consumer. Our average consumer age came down considerably. Other factors also came into play in that women embraced craft beer and started asking for our brands by name. OT: How did the craft beer boom affect life at Birkenhead? A: +n some instances it was good by helping us to create more craft beer awareness. For a time we did see a number of sub-par beers produced in the industry which caused people to move bacM to mass produced beer so that was a setbacM but we believe that with the great work done by the Craft Beer Association of 5outh #Hrica this will soon be a thing oH the past OT: Are you planning any sort of celebration to mark your two decades in the industry? A: 9e will have some sort oH inHormal gathering at the brewery to celebrate all the hard worM done by our pioneers but nothing too big. For now we are just concentrating on making award winning beers for the people of South Africa. OT: We’ve recently seen a rebrand and new beers added to the range – what’s next for Birkenhead? B: 9e are playing around with some ideas involving wine barrels 9e are also looMing at adding some accommodation to our brewery to make your visit last a little bit longer. 20 | Summer 2018 | ontapmag.co.za