OnTap Magazine

method also created a number of other consequences (unintended or genius, we will never know). Decoction creates a Maillard reaction, which leaves a malty richness to the beer, and as it turned out, the combination with the locally available Saaz hops balanced this richer beer beautifully. The style, locally known as světlý ležák, we now find in the BJCP guide as a Czech Premium Pale Lager, a beer born of a desire for Bavarian Lagers in Pilsen. Through adaptation to local challenges, it became a distinctly different type of beer. THE ARGUMENT FOR A SOUTH AFRICAN STYLE When asked, Gordon Strong had this to say about establishing a style: “People have often made arguments to me that I should add a local style only made with local ingredients. I remember Irish people saying I should add an Irish pale ale. I asked how it was different from an English pale ale and they said it was the same but used Irish malt. I asked how Irish malt could be distinguished from British malt from a sensory standpoint and they said it couldn't.” The above argument is perhaps true for the South African Pilsner initiative. As environmentally friendly and sensible as it would be to make beer from local ingredients, if it tastes like an existing beer style, just using local ingredients, then it hasn’t qualified as a new style. What might have potential? Nick Smith at Soul Barrel Brewing in the Western Cape uses Fynbos in his Live Culture Cape Wild Ale. This is because Fynbos, an indigenous product to the Western Cape, contains essential oils like geranoil, citronellol, linalool and isomenthone. These are all oils present in hops. The flavour he achieves one could say is different from a traditional gruit beer. IntervarsityBrew introduced a Wild African Ale category, but 2023 was won by the Maties Brewing Team from Stellenbosch, brewing an Italian Grape Ale with local Pinotage grapes. (This is an existing X3 style in the BJCP manual.) Mountain Brewing Company has also developed a beer around the use of specific Fynbos and I would imagine there will be more. I know that Triggerfish Brewing makes their Ancient One, which is a traditional gruit beer, using locally sourced African Wormwood. One possible outcome of this experimentation might be that we use more and more Fynbos in South African beers and end up with good beers that are also distinctly different from the intended styles. “Simply using an ingredient does not really make a style,” Strong explains in our many email exchanges on the topic. So just adding Fynbos to a beer will not make it a style, even if it is a very good beer. However, if we start making IPAs with 100% hop alternatives and it is pleasant, distinguishably different in taste from what exists, and there are a fair number of breweries producing variations of it, then it might qualify. Of course, this would be true for more than just IPAs. When it comes to our traditional beers, such as umqombothi, they vary in taste and ingredients, but can be an unstable product to commercially manufacture. And there is also a style in the BJCP guide that these beers could fall under, namely the Alternative Grain Beer. It is important to note that, again, BJCP does not create styles, but rather reacts to styles that have come into existence and have ample commercial and homebrew examples. Whatever a South African style might taste like, it is likely to be born organically from experimentation. Commercial brewers and homebrewers should embrace the possibilities in our surroundings and experiment with local ingredients with a bottom-up approach, where the only firm goal should be to brew a beer that is delicious, has a good shelf life, and a wide market appeal. Gordon Strong 48 | Summer 2023 | ontapmag.co.za