OnTap Magazine

DAVE A PINT WITH DL: How did you get into hockey? RP: Well rugby and cricket were always my main sports in school and then in standard nine I was badly injured. I broke my eye bone, cheek bone and my jaw. Then in matric, I broke my ankle in a game. After school, I studied in Pretoria and one of my friends played hockey, he said that their club needed a goalkeeper and I was previous cricket wicket keeper so it made sense. It also made sense because you can meet chicks at the hockey club. That’s where it all started. DL: As a goalkeeper, do you ever feel psychologically like a loss is your fault? RP: It is quite a huge thing mentally to deal with. How do you bounce back from a What’s the Ras? T his edition, Dave has a pint with Rassie Pieterse , SA hockey goalkeeper, entrepreneur and now a brewery owner as well as his business partner Fat Henry (who is quite thin actually). goal? You have to prepare yourself for that before the game but it is all about the team as well, your team mates pick you up afterwards and support you. DL: So you are also involved in a lot of businesses, how did that start? RP: It comes down to hockey players being poor so the majority of the guys land up playing overseas because the money is there. I had an opportunity with one of my sponsors while I was studying to get involved with TK, which is actually the brand I represent now. I have always loved business so where there is an opportunity, I take it. DL: How did you get involved in the restaurant and food and beverage industry? RP: I was doing an event for TK and met Craig and Henry (Fat Henry), my current business partners who have been in the restaurant industry for a while. We had a similar vision and there was a natural synergy, I got involved in one of their restaurants and then we started talking about other business opportunities. DL: Tell me the story of how you bought a brewery RP: I organized tickets to the Springboks vs All Blacks rugby game and Henry said before the game "I want to take you guys to this brewery and we can have a couple of beers". Our entrepreneurial minds started working and we thought this could be quite fun and there is a lot of synergy with our restaurant businesses. DL: What area is the brewery in? FH: Its in Kew, in the most beautiful building that looks like a Columbian drug lord’s mansion. DL: So who is doing the brewing of the beer? FH: There are two parties involved, obviously us and then the brewers who have a chemical background and we are distilling as well. The brewers are very fastidious about their work, it's all about recipes and trials of the product. DL: How far along in the process are you, as far as getting to market is concerned? FH: We have done some test runs and between the three of us we do food and beverage work for the Ticket Pro Dome so we have run the product through events there and received great feedback. We are also using our restaurants as outlets to trial the products as well. We are working on the brands at the moment. DL: Any stumbling blocks? FH: There are always stumbling blocks with business. The liquor license was a big one that took a while. DL: We see a lot of breweries closing and being sold, are you confident in this venture? FH: I don’t think it’s confidence as such, it is more about the fact that we have a route to market through our restaurants and we will use this to grow the business. Watch this space with these guys, they have a combination of entrepreneurial and marketing spirits and a love of beer… the brand is on the way. Left to right: Fat Henry, Rassie Pieterse and Dave hops when using only aroma varieties compared to bitter varieties. From an economic point of view, this explains why large breweries in particular prefer using bitter varieties. HOPS AND PHARMACOLOGY Although 95% of hops are used in brewing, the “green gold“ was awarded theaccoladeof medicinal plant of theyear in 2007. As early as 1158 AD Hildegard von Bingen describes the antioxidant properties of the hop plant in her paper called “Liber simlicis medicinae“ or “Physica“ and recommends its use in drinks (beer) to improve their shelf life. In one of his papers, the Italian doctor Pietro Andrea Mattioli, who practiced in Italy at the beginning of the 16th century, refers to the healing powers of the hop plant which he uses to relieve a wide range of illnesses, including high fever, gynaecological ailments, ear inflammation, tooth ache, spleen and liver problems, malaria, tuberculosis and more. Nowadays, hops are used primarily as an ingredient in many plant- based sleeping pills and relaxants, frequently combined with Valerian. We should not overlook the fact that modern research continues to show a great degree of interest in this fascinating plant and its ingredients. Currently, there are several ongoing projects to thoroughly investigate the medicinal properties of hops as well as their bitter substances and polyphenols. ADVERTORIAL On Tap / Autumn 2018 / 3 ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2019 | 7