1000 Hills Brewing Company in Botha’s Hill won two bronze medals at the African Beer Cup, one of the largest beer competitions on the continent.
The brewery, based at the 1000 Hills Chef School, bagged bronze for their Umgeni Steam, a California Common, and The FES, an English barley wine.
Competition director and co-founder Lucy Corne said 271 beers from 16 African countries were entered in the competition.
The Soul Barrel Brewery, a microbrewery based in the Cape Winelands, took the title of Best Beer in Africa with their Ale of Origin, a wild-fermented ale using all-South African ingredients.
Corne said beers were assessed over three days by judges from 16 countries including the US, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, SA and Zimbabwe.
“In line with many other major competitions, we use the American Beer Judge Certification Programme guidelines in our judging process,” she said.
However, Corne said the beer scene across Africa had developed beyond merely following global beer trends, and was now setting its own trends.
“This year, to reflect what is happening in craft beer around the continent, we introduced a new category to showcase beers using traditional African brewing grains, including sorghum, millet and fonio,” said Corne.
The winner of the African Grains category was awarded the African Celebration Award, sponsored by the Beer Association of South Africa (BASA).
“This year’s winner was Johannesburg-based Swagga Brewery for their Sorghum Ale, an unhopped beer using 100% South African sorghum, described as a modern brewer’s take on the classic sorghum beer, fermented with English Ale yeast,” explained Corne.
African Beer Cup partner and financial manager Romina Gaggero-Delicio said the craft beer industry in Africa was still in its infant stages.
“The fact that the African Beer Cup has grown to 16 participating countries with 15 awards going to breweries outside of South Africa is testament to the fact that we can expect a lot of growth in our continent and will see a lot of exciting beers coming from the rest of Africa in the future,” said Gaggero-Delicio.
Charlene Louw, CEO of the Beer Association of South Africa, said they not only valued the African Beer Cup as a mark of quality and excellence, but also as an annual reminder of the huge potential African beers had when it came to tourism.
“Our continents’ beers are world-class and offer taste experiences to all types of visitors,” said Louw.