OnTap Magazine

O bakeng’s grandmother is 87 years old. She is the one who taught Obakeng to make “traditional beer,” and when she passes away, it will be Obakeng who must take over that responsibility. Obakeng grew up in Jericho, in South Africa’s northwest province, a village not far from a game park. When she was young, she dreamed of becoming a celebrity one day until a trusted cousin informed her such a line of work would never pay. She then decided she’d position herself behind the camera instead She went on to study TV production in Johannesburg at Boston Media House and about a year after graduating, came across a film training program called the “Big Fish School of Digital Film Making” also in Johannesburg. Over the course of her enrollment, Obakeng made eight short films, one of which earned her an award. She started attending various film festivals abroad in an effort to either gain recognition for a film, sell rights to a film, or raise seed funding for future films. She attended ten festivals across four countries including Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and France. It was during one of her visits to the UK that she noticed – and was immediately impressed by – young women drinking beer. “We are not used to this in my village, women drinking craft beer,” she explains. A quick convert to the beverage, Obakeng started bringing beer back home, keeping some of the bottles as souvenirs. She soon developed a fascination with beer more broadly, and the making of beer specifically. She turned to YouTube where she watched video tutorials and began spending time at Johannesburg-based craft brewery Mad Giant, among a few others, quite literally just watching them brew. It was through them that she was introduced to Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela, founder of what was then called Brewster’s Craft where Obakeng ended up taking a few introductory beer courses. Apiwe quickly became “more than a mentor” to Obakeng: “She is an inspiration.” And then quite crucially, during Covid, she saw an advert on Facebook for the “Road to 100,” created by an American woman named Eugenia Brown. It was an initiative aimed at helping women of color gain access to the beer industry through a beer education. Obakeng applied and was accepted into the program and soon found herself attending classes online, often meaning she was up at 2:00 am in Johannesburg given the time difference. Obakeng appreciated the company and camaraderie offered by the course – especially during a lockdown that had gotten lonely – and she was motivated by the other female attendees, yearning as she tells me, to be “on their level.” STARTING A MOVEMENT One morning on her way to attend a work-related meeting, Obakeng noticed a large number of young people hanging about with nowhere, it seemed, to go. “It looked like the holidays,” she says. She quickly realized that these folks, despite being educated, didn’t have jobs to rush off to. Her anecdotal observation has statistical backing: according to the World Bank, South Africa has the highest unemployment rate in the world. When it comes to Collaboration with Torque Brewing Obakeng brewing at Brewhogs This collaboration with IMPI Brewers in Wangara, West Australia was released on Mother's Day.