OnTap Magazine

20 | Winter 2018 | ontapmag.co.za INTERVIEW Q: This is your first trip to South Africa – how was it? It’s been fantastic. The passion of the brewers, the physical beauty of the country, the friendliness of the people – it's all there. Q: What are your initial impressions of the South African beer scene? It’s certainly in development in terms of the number of brewers and the styles being executed. It seems that there isn’t clarity in the market place yet so people are feeling around to figure out what’s going on. I love some of the intent – people are figuring out the South African connection to raw materials and attempting to create something truly local rather than just emulating international styles. Q: You’re known as the malt guy, and gave us a talk entitled Maltolicious – do you have any thoughts on the malt character in South African beers? I do see some issues with the locally produced malt. I get the sense that the malt by and large is optimised for high extract, high adjunct brewing and that doesn’t always translate well into all-malt beers. There has been a 180-degree shift worldwide when it comes to barley malt breeding, with the objective being to maximise flavour for all-malt beers. I get the sense that the intent of the South African malt breeders isn’t so much to maximise flavour, but more to maximise the enzymes for adjunct brewing. Q: Did you have any stand-out beers while you were here? For sure. I really enjoyed the saison from Franschoek Beer Co. It was not the only beer I’ve enjoyed of course, but it went so well with the atmosphere, the food and just went down very well - I couldn’t believe it was 8.4%. It’s an excellent beer. Q: We saw you scribbling notes during the Powwow talks – what did you take away from the conference? It was pleasant to see a wide blend of perspectives from different aspects of the industry. I also really enjoyed the interaction between the public and the speakers. I love being at a small conference like this as you get to interact with people rather than just talking to a huge room of faceless delegates. The other thing that I picked up on is that it feels like there’s been a change since ABI have taken over. From the remarks of other participants, including some ex- SAB employees – it seems like things have changed in South Africa since the buyout, which was pretty interesting. Q: And outside of the conference room – were there any highlights? I spent a glorious day climbing the hill that is Table Mountain. Other than that, just being out and drinking beer with people. I just love travelling; love being exposed to different cultures. Whenever I travel I think the piece that I’m super grateful for is the small connection that is craft across the globe – you can run into someone you know anywhere in the world and you just have that in common. JOHN MALLET MEETING The keynote speaker at this year’s Craft Brewers Powwow has worked in the US beer industry for over thirty years and is currently director of operations at the multi award-wining Bell’s Brewery in Michigan. We grabbed five minutes with John Mallet to talk about his South African experience.