OnTap Magazine

For the true beginners – the newbies-to- craft – they have a Lager on tap made with cassava, maize and barley malt, but to which they’ve added some German hops. For this beer, the journey for the consumer is short; it’s only a slight difference from what their palate is used to. They call this one “Chop Life,” a common phrase meaning to enjoy life. When sitting, relaxing with your friends, perhaps over a good beer, you are living the “chop life.” Fromthere youmightmove to another of their core range beers which is a dark lager, or their Independence Lager, made with yam, unmalted sorghum, roasted sorghum and barley malts. The purpose, if you will, of this beer is to challenge people with the colour. ‘It doesn’t look like a lager, but it tastes like one!’ This is an effort, again, to start that shift in people’s perceptions. They then made an American Pale Ale with “yooyi,” or velvet tamarind, which is a berry, also locally known, according to Danie, as “the poor man’s sweet.” You peel the berry and get a velvet/orange core, and when you suck it, it dissolves in your mouth “like Sherbet”! The slight tart flavour combined beautifully with the sweetness coming from the American hops they used. It quickly became a “crowd favorite.” “Again, you are challenging people: ‘You made a beer with yooyi?!’” People are more inclined to give it a try and they end up on that journey Danie is focused on, from the first smell, to the taste, to the realization: hey, this is pretty good and it reminds me of something I already like. Their Calibash Pale Ale brings new world and new world together as they use imported hops from the US along with a grain bill consisting of cassava, maize, some local unmalted wheat, and oats. It happens to be their most bitter beer – clocking in at 28 IBUs. Ghanaians tend to have an aversion to bitterness, but this beer carries a tropical note that you can smell immediately. That coupled with its copper colour, and you are starting to elongate that journey away from the all-too-familiar “yellow liquid.” Ghanaians do know and enjoy stouts and Heritage has one of those too, called “Homeland Stout.” It is made with the addition of garri, maize, and a roasted sorghum they acquire from a local farmer, with whom they developed the actual roasting process. They add Robusta coffee beans from Bean Masters, an all-female operation that sources their beans directly from female farmers that they themselves have helped establish and train. The Bean Masters have a special technique when roasting the Robusta beans, which naturally tend to have a rather harsh taste. The final result in the beer is a smooth, chocolate flavour profile that is also lighter in mouthfeel and body than other stouts tend to be. The word “boga” refers to someone THE BEER EXPERIENCE WORLD OF BEER The long bar with the brewery as a backdrop Chop Life and Heritage Pilsner on tap Danie providing a brewery talk and tour 26 | Winter 2024 | ontapmag.co.za