Cape Town - As craft beer booms in the Western Cape, a number of top winemakers are now turning their hands to brewing beer.
André Morgenthal, the spokesperson for export marketing body Wines of South Africa (Wosa), said the motivation behind “wine farms’ diversifying included a combination of factors”.
Economic motivation was one, he said, and a creative spirit another.
“But a lot is wine tourism related because you have people arriving at your wine farm with different interests.”
One of the country’s biggest micro-breweries, the Cape Brewing Company (CBC), is a joint venture between veteran wine maker Charles Back of Fairview and Swedish brewery Åbro. They make Pilsner, Lager, Krystal Weiss and Amber Weiss on the Spice Route Farm in Paarl.
Some of the winemakers the Cape Argus spoke to said it made sense to tap into the craft beer explosion not only because of the demand but because wine production was seasonal.
David Nieuwoudt, the owner and winemaker of Cederberg Private Cellar, said they launched their Boggom & Voertsek beers last year after five years of perfecting the recipes.
Nieuwoudt started Cederberg Breweries with one of his winemakers, Alex Nel, who made beer as a hobby.
“Alex spent his weekends brewing beer at home. I was always a keen drinker of his brews, of course.”
He said it happened at the time craft beer started booming in South Africa so it made sense to start the venture.
They started with Boggom (Blonde Ale) and Voertsek (India Pale Ale) – named after David Kramer’s song about two baboons driving in an old Pontiac – and recently added a third, Cederberg Original Lager.
When asked if they had diversified for financial reasons or more as a fun sideline, Niewoudt said it was a little of both. “We have the tools and skills to do this and we love beer.”
Rob Boustred, of Remhoogte Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, brews a Blonde Ale, Amber Ale and Stout at their Wild Beast brewery which has been running since November 2012.
Boustred said they initially started brewing beers for their own consumption but later started “selling out of the tasting room”.
“At that stage we saw an opportunity to diversify our business and convert our old cellar into a micro-brewery.”
They manufactured a 500 litre brewing system locally.
Cape Argus