OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2025 | 1 Joya Taft-Dick EDITOR I spend a weird amount of time thinking about the extent to which beer is underestimated and overlooked. is may be why a section of Jonny Garrett’s intro to his most recent book, “ e Meaning of Beer,” stood out to me: “[W] hile the traditions of ne wine are held in the highest regard, beer’s central place in the world seems to be its undoing. Far from being an artisan endeavor, to most people it’s a daily inevitability that sits on shopping lists next to the washing-up liquid.” In other words, it’s the ubiquity of beer that undermines it. And yet: the stories on these pages, and the people in them, paint a much more vibrant and nuanced picture. We know that beer is big business. We know it contributes massively to countries’ GDP, tax revenue, and to job creation. And as Jonny’s latest book sets out to make clear, beer is a beverage “through which the entire history of humanity can be traced.” Rafael D’Armas, a brewer in New York City, sees beer in politics, pointing out that beer was on the proverbial table during discussions to reunify East and West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Beer also lends itself to mutual aid: one of the many fascinating subjects explored at the most recent Beer and Culture Summit was the role that craft breweries can and do play in responding to natural disasters. Part of the reason for this is the unique ethos of comraderie that permeates this industry. Multiple participants of the BeerEx Africa ‘State of the Industry’ panel pointed to the supportive and welcoming nature of craft beer, in contrast with the highly competitive science and architectural design worlds from which they migrated. Beer festivals like Fools & Fans and Capital Craft, and conferences and competitions like that of BeerEx Africa and the African Beer Cup continue to elevate and celebrate the beer industry in this country, and across the continent. ere is a growing desire to lean into locally sourced ingredients and to better re ect ‘African’ palettes. What does it mean, after all, that this year’s “Best Beer in Africa” was a sorghum umqombothi farmhouse ale blend? I think it says a great deal. Beer is of course also artistry, another point made during that Industry panel, with emphasis on the fact that the who, where and what of that artistry is evolving. And perhaps our perception of beer, listed as it may be next to the washing-up liquid, is evolving too. I’ll cheers to that! Letter from the Editor