OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2024 | 23 continent (and world…) who brewed the centuries (if not millennia) old traditional beers and yet today, stereotypes around who does or does not drink beer persist. Several of the young women I spoke to told me how they had to work to get their mothers on board with this new beer- related activity. Zintle Dube of the 1000 Hills Chef School says her mom’s initial stance was: “Don’t come home drinking Heineken; that’s not ladylike.” Her mother has since come around, even enjoying one of the sour beers Zintle offered her, but she then adds, “I would love to change that cultural [assumption] that women don’t drink beer, or that women who do drink beer are masculine.” Many of the students had another assumption of theirs turned on its head thanks to the programme. Wa Ngoy Michel from Vaal University of Technology says they at times struggle to entice students to join the team because they think learning to brew beer is a “waste of time” and won’t “bring you somewhere in life.” To that point, I ask his teammate, Dikeledi Ratheko what surprised her about the beer initiative and she admits: “I didn’t think it was that serious!” before laughing. People in this industry, she emphasizes, have a real depth of knowledge and expertise, and it’s inspiring. I turn back to Wa Ngoy and ask why he originally got involved and he asserts without hesitation, “Because there’s a future in beer.” Farouscha Brouwers from CUT is getting her honours in mechanical engineering. She saw a pamphlet advertising the brewing programme and decided to get involved to learn something outside of her field. They are a small team, and all women. Farouscha says her family too didn’t understand this new interest of hers, however, when they found out that Heineken and SAB were involved, they realized the gravity of the event. She tells me something she has learned, which I hear on repeat that afternoon: “[Brewing] is more than a skill, it’s also a career. It’s a way to develop yourself.” She elaborates, telling me she “wasn’t really a beer person,” but over time, learning what she has through the programme, she has started to “love the art of brewing.” “When brewing beer, you make friends, you build community,” she continues, “and I do think that is something beautiful.” I point to her last name and imply that perhaps she was destined to work in this industry. She nods and offers a shy smile. PRIDE OF PLACE Related to the above is the palpable camaraderie in this space. Luke Steele attends the University of Pretoria and is in his final year of a chemical engineering degree. A more experienced hand, this is his fourth year at the competition. “What is amazing is how collaborative it all is,” he gushes. No one is gatekeeping their recipes or their processes. People offer solutions. And not just from the student side, he is quick to point out, but the industry experts as well, and everyone in between. For Luke, beer brewing was initially just a cool hobby, but through the programme he has seen what a career in beer could look like. He assures me he is far from alone, adding that he has seen members of his team and others decide they want to enter the industry because of the connections and passion they witness at the competition. This, in conjunction with other industry events, become networking opportunities. “As big as the industry is, you realize how small the community can seem, and the faces are all familiar…It’s very interconnected.” Another repeated theme is a growing pride of place. As Olga explained, the purpose of the African Wild Ale category was largely to drive not just innovation, but locally sourced innovation specifically. Zintle had always wanted to be a pastry chef, inspired by her grandmother. She left UCT after a few years and saved up some money so she could attend the 1000 Hills Chef School, which includes learning to brew the second year. Megan Gemmell, [founder of Clockwork Brewhouse, mentor to the Chef School brewing course, and alum of this very programme], had given the students a lecture on the various food items you can use to ferment your beers. Zintle had an idea: she designed a beer called “Grandma’s Porridge,” – a reference to a sour porridge her Xhosa grandmother often made for breakfast – using a fermented sorghum starter as its yeast. The resulting beer beat out others to be their submission for the African Wild Ale competition category. When Winnie Motswagae returned to the University of Cape Town (UCT) for her master’s degree in chemical engineering, she too knew she wanted to work with yeast and better understand the fermentation process. She also knew that UCT has a strong brewing team, which she joined immediately – and became captain. She tells me she is researching how to commercialize marula beer, another traditionally made beverage that tends to rely on spontaneous fermentation giving it a limited shelf-life. She would like to develop something that can last longer and be commercially available. She also informs me that one day she’d like to run her own craft brewery. “The craft brewing community is very closed off,” she concedes, adding that she sees the same people at the various breweries and events around the Western Cape. She wonders why more in the general public aren’t getting involved, Anton Erasmus provides feedback with Chris Roth in the background. The University of the Free State (Kovsies) had one of the best Margarita Sour beers I've tasted in a long time...