OnTap Magazine

BREW NEWS M ore than 150 brewers, beer enthusiasts and industry experts gathered to celebrate the inaugural African Beer Cup awards ceremony, held in Cape Town on May 18th. Run in partnership with the annual Craft Brewers Powwow, the competition attracted 143 entries from 11 different African countries: Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. 56 medals were awarded in 28 different categories, with winners hailing from seven different countries. Beers were judged in early May by panels of beer experts, brewers and qualified judges in Cape Town and Johannesburg. All beers were judged to the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) guidelines. “In order to get the best results possible, all beers in the competition were judged twice by two different panels,” said competition co- founder and director Shawn Duthie. The 16 gold medallists went head to head in a best-of-show round to determine the overall winner. Cape Town’s Drifter Brewing Company took the coveted top spot, with their Stormy Smoked Porter. Drifter’s brewer Zared Rogers was overjoyed with their win. “The Stormy Smoked Porter is personally one of my favourite beers to brew and the whole team is really humbled by this accolade. Congratulations to all of the winners!” Zared said. THE INAUGURAL AFRICAN BEER CUP CROWNS THE BEST BEERS IN AFRICA 16 | Winter 2019 | ontapmag.co.za