OnTap Magazine

reason to replace a trusted brand with a new brew. Earlier this year I conducted a survey with the brewers, with one of the questions asking “what is your biggest challenge as a craft brewer?” Of the 115 that responded, many cited the same issues over and over: shelf space, real estate, distribution, actually selling the beer. ere is de nitely a gap or two in the market for more craft beer distributors, but there is also a great need for innovative thinking when it comes to selling beer. Instead of trying to get your ales on tap at Beerhouse or Banana Jam or Capital Craft, head instead to your local bars and restaurants. Brew a damn good beer, nd outlets that don’t yet serve craft and convince them that this is the beer for them. FACE TO FACE SALES However large or small, I believe that a taproom is absolutely essential for every brewery or contract brand. Of those that responded to the survey, 26% have no on-site consumption at all. Just under 14% were contract brewers (although a high portion of contract brewers did not respond and I would estimate this gure as being more like 20%) with the remainder either operating a brewpub (22.6%) or combining both on-consumption and distribution (37.4%). A taproom is so crucial for many reasons – you need to give your brand a face and a story; a reason for people to remember your beer when they see it in a liquor store fridge alongside 120 others. It’s a way to meet your public, to explain your beers to the public, to serve your beers in their most perfect state. Consumer education was considered one of the top challenges for small brewers and there is simply no ner way to guarantee that your drinker will understand your beer than if you explain it to them yourself. Opening a taproom of course comes with hefty costs and one of my favourite trends this year was the advent of the collab taproom: Just Brewing partnered with Old Potter to open At Hops End in Modderfontein; Kennel and Elysium launched Absolute Craft in Paarl, while the Brewers Collective sees a group of Cape Town nanobrewers – mostly those without their own taproom – getting together to present their beers directly to the public at rotating venues. In the spirit of collaboration, CBC continued with its tap takeover series o ering small breweries a platform to get their beers into the hands of the wider public. Although this year has been tough for many, it’s so heartening to see the industry working together and it’s been a bumper year for collab brews – the perfect way to innovate and keep your brand relevant. CHANGING TASTES For a variety of reasons – the weak rand, the increased competition, the price wars and the general lack of cash in consumers’ pockets – this winter has been a rough one. Perhaps the economic downturn had a lot to do with the marked slowdown in the number of new breweries opening. In 2016, 35 microbreweries (including contract brands) started up. In 2017 that number rose very slightly to 36. In 2018 just 14 new breweries launched – and at least half a dozen closed. But it’s not all bad news. One of the most surprising aspects of the survey was seeing which beers the South African drinker is buying. Of course it came as no shock that pale lagers remain the most popular style – a third of respondents said that their biggest seller fell into this category. But pale ales – not blondes – came in second, and most pleasing of all, 11% of respondents said that their biggest selling beer was an IPA. is shows a real maturation of the market, with drinkers moving to more avourful, less familiar beers. It’s been a year with almost as many closures as openings, but it’s also been a year lled with innovation and new developments: canning lines and cask ales; barrel aged barley wines, Brett saisons and even a braggot; international collabs, international awards, oceanic beers and an increased interest in making beer as environmentally friendly as possible. We are in a situation where we are constantly comparing ourselves to what’s happening in America or Australia or the UK, but we’re really not being fair to ourselves. We have a marvellous thing going here. Our beers are improving by the day, our market is gradually growing, many of our brewers are constantly reading and studying and travelling to try and gather every possible piece of information to make their next brew even better. If you take Jack Black’s 2007 launch as the start of South Africa’s craft beer scene, you realise that we’re not yet in our adolescence. I think we can say that 2018 has been a year of growing pains and just like anyone who is nearing their teenage years, there will undoubtedly be tough times ahead. A LOOK AHEAD So what lies in store for 2019? Well, I expect to see a few more closures and a few more breweries changing hands, but I also expect to see continued innovation. Just as the craft beer drinker is maturing, so is the brewer, who is looking for ways to experiment and expand and become a better brewer. Barrel ageing programmes are on the increase, hazy IPAs aren’t going to go away any time soon and sour styles might just start to catch on. Cans are going to be big, while ABVs are looking likely to shrink if we follow a global trend towards low and even non-alcoholic beer. Another global issue, one that I heard discussed at great length at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville, is the issue of diversity. By its nature, beer is a welcoming, inclusive beverage – the everyman’s drink. But we are still trying to nd a way to make our craft beer scene more diverse. Of the 115 brewers that responded to the survey, 52% admitted to having not one female employee. Almost 50% employ one or fewer people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. It can be a tricky topic to address, but let’s start talking about it, let’s see how we can grow the industry and widen the fan base. To end on a high, I am very hopeful that we are going to see something really special next year. In November, I heard a talk from Bloemfontein’s Liquid Culture who were speaking at Africa Brew. eir work with liquid yeast is making it look very likely that 2019 will be the rst year that we can produce a truly South African beer, with all four ingredients (plus whatever other fruits or botanicals the brewer wishes to add) sourced from within our borders. If we can get that right then this year’s annus horribilis could well be replaced in 2019 with an annus awesomilis . 11% OF RESPONDENTS SAID THAT THEIR BIGGEST SELLING BEER WAS AN IPA IT’S SO HEARTENING TO SEE THE INDUSTRY WORKING TOGETHER ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2018 | 27