OnTap Magazine

After completing his matric across the border in Zimbabwe, a young Lazarus moved to Maputo to pursue his first love: music. A difficult industry to break into, Lazarus soon found himself needing to put food on the table in a more reliable way. Bartending eventually led to the start of a career in hospitality. Over the course of 15 years he went from bartender to restaurant manager, to resort coordinator. Finally, with South Africa hosting the World Cup in 2010, Lazarus thought it was time to make his way to the Mother City. Moving to the Mother City Remembering a woman he had met during his resort coordinator days who had said, “If you are ever in Cape Town, give me a call…” he did just that, which landed him a job at Carlile’s. From there he bounced around to several restaurants, including a stint as a barista, before eventually finding himself regularly walking past what looked from the outside like a brewery. “I didn’t think it was open,” Lazarus explains, “They had a cage, or a gate [out front] – to me it was facing the wrong way – so I asked the security guard, ‘When is this place gonna open?’ and he said, ‘They are open, you just need to go around!’” The brewery he finally managed to enter was Riot Beer. Rather quickly, Lazarus secured himself a position behind the bar on Thursdays and Fridays. This proved fortuitous: “I started working there and Marc [Fourie, the former owner and head brewer] would be brewing, and I would ask him a few questions.” After a while, Marc responded with a question of his own: “Are you interested [in brewing]?” When Lazarus replied with an enthusiastic affirmative Marc said, “Okay, come and give me a hand…” Wearing Many Hats “Then I watched a lot of YouTube videos,” Lazarus admits with a laugh. “So that’s how I started brewing! I never did any homebrewing stuff, I just went straight to the big scale.” It’s only recently, he explains, that he got into doing small batches on his own. Over time, Lazarus not only brewed for Riot, but he also worked for a second company owned by Riot called Africa Hops, enmeshing himself further in all things beer industry-related. In 2019, almost a decade after first arriving in South Africa, Lazarus saw that Paternoster Brouery was hiring – for head brewer! Suffice it to say, he got the job, and then some, as it turns out: “So, if you ask for the manager, you’ll see me. If you ask for the barman it will be me.” Lazarus laughs again. “If someone complains I say, ‘Let me go and call the manager,’ and then I go and come back.” We are both laughing now. When asked about a favourite style of beer, to drink or to brew, Lazarus responds with, “IPAs and Stouts…I don’t know between the two, I enjoy both.” He then takes a turn for the nostalgic: “My favorite beer is actually called Laurentina Preta, it is a dark beer made in Mozambique. It has a sweet, coffee taste…” and here he trails off, a smile on his face as he remembers this beloved beer from home. Pressed on what he sees as some of the challenges facing the craft beer industry in South Africa, his answer doesn’t surprise. He refers to the need to better educate the public on the beverage, and cops to the fact that the expensive nature of the raw materials used to brew means the beers themselves end up at a higher price point – something that keeps potential consumers away. As for the future, Lazarus beams as he shares his hopes to one day open a brewery in Maputo. “I was in Maputo a few weeks ago and I saw that there was an opportunity there….There’s gonna be one craft brewery opening soon, but to spice things up, I think they wouldn't mind having a bit of competition.” And with that, again he laughs. PATERNOSTER JACOBS BAY SALDANHA LANGEBAAN YZERFONTEIN CAPE TOWN DARLING MALMESBURY VREDENBURG VELDDRIFT N1 N7 R27 R45 R399 54 | Summer 2023 | ontapmag.co.za