OnTap Magazine

I make it my goal to nd the ultimate Catharina sour, but once I leave Blumenau, the quest becomes trickier. is is a truly local style, using fruits native to the Santa Catharina state and I quickly nd that breweries elsewhere in the country are not producing them with any great frequency. BEER IN THE CITIES Rio is probably the only city I’ve been to that can truly rival Cape Town for its combination of bustling city life and raw natural beauty. Its 24/7 party vibe admittedly outshines theMother City’s, but when it comes to craft beer, Rio comes in second place. Luckily, we’ve picked a few Brazilian beer brains and come armed with a list of local recommendations. e 3Cariocas taproom pours a great guava sour and what I consider the best named beer in Rio: IPA Nema. Overhop o ers a range of IPAs, though their sour leaves me brewsick for Blumenau. One of our favourite spots is Brewteco, a hole-in-the-wall bar with more taps than bar stools. ey pour beers from a range of local breweries as well as their house brews, produced o site. But while Rio undoubtedly wins in the categories of beaches, mountains and giant religious statues, when it comes to craft beer, São Paolo is king. I don’t expect to like the city. It’s enormous – the largest in both the western and southern hemispheres – and as our plane comes into land the city sprawls all grey and featureless in every direction. But when we hit the streets after dark, I love it. It has a vibrancy about it that reminds me of Seoul, but with a lot less neon and more space to walk. It also has some excellent beers. As soon as we arrive at Trilha, we know we haven’t allowed enough time in the city. It’s a tiny taproom – smaller than any I’ve seen in South Africa – but the beers are excellent, the locals are welcoming and when the food truck pulls up outside, the snacks are perfect. A lot of Brazilian breweries have a similar model and it’s one I think the South African industry could learn from. You don’t need a 50-seater restaurant or a kitchen pumping out three course meals. We found a half-dozen taprooms where much of the drinking was done on foot, either leaning against the bar or standing on the street watching Brazil go by. Most don’t serve food, instead partnering with a food truck that parks on the pavement on busier nights. We end our evening – and indeed our trip – at a place that has been universally recommended by every beer person we’ve met in the country: Empório Alto de Pinheiros, better known as EAP. e choice is exceptional and we start to consider delaying our homeward ight for a few days to try and make a dent in the menu. But we’d need weeks to work our way through the fridges, which are packed with cans and bottles from throughout Brazil, the US and indeed, the world. ere are 44 beers on tap, and after eliminating the 15-or-so imports, I settle on a ight of IPAs and a ight of increasingly rich pastry stouts for dessert. Before we leave, we stock up on absurdly- priced cans of Catharina sour to bring back to South Africa. In part, I’m hoping I can convince a local brewer to try and replicate the style here. But better still would be if this young addition to Brazil’s beer scene could inspire our brewers to create a truly South African style that will one day make it into the BJCP guidelines. When it comes to craft beer, São Paolo is king A tasting tray of 3Cariocas on the streets of Rio Our editor's top pick Sampling São Paolo's sours at Trilha Mistura Classica Catharina sour at the Brazilian Beer Festival in Blumenau ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2019 | 47