When I think of brewing beer it involves steeping some grains (in my new cooler box mash tun configuration) and transferring it to my "kettle", usually with some spillage in the process. Then starts the uphill battle to convince my little Defy to break the laws of physics to get a pot nearly bigger than itself to start a rolling boil. After this there are the hop additions to keep track of, sanitation, syphoning and all sorts of messy tasks. Throughout this process there is monitoring temperatures, making sure you keep everything clean both before and after the brewing and of course the idea of bottling will also become a reality a week or two from brew day. All this effort will eventually lead me to sit back a couple of weeks later to a (hopefully) palatable beer that I can be proud of as I think back of what it took to create. To be fair, it is not all that hard and I maintain that this is where part of the fun and at least 50% of the (dare I say) "craft" comes in. Recently two guys over in the U.S of A have devised a new system they call Picobrew. I am not going to elaborate too much as I believe what they have managed to create is pretty incredible, but to be honest I am not so sure about how I feel about the home brewing implications it holds. Check out the video (also available on the site at above link): What do you think about this new system? How do you feel it will affect/change the home brew scene? To me the whole idea of getting messy and hands-on is part of the appeal. I suspect that such contraptions will not hit our shores any time soon, but how fair is that beer compared to a beer brewed by someone using "normal" home brew equipment for a competition? Just saying... Thanks to my friend, Flemming over in Spain for sending me this link.
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I am sure you would have seen the ad campaign calling all willing warriors in the GaragistaHunt to reclaim craft beer from the hipsters by now? I tracked down one of the first ones I saw doing the rounds a couple of weeks ago... Seeing as I have never heard of this Garagista beer company and their slightly controversial marketing campaign, I thought I would look them up... (image http://www.mahala.co.za/freebies/mobster-malt/) I soon tracked them down on Facebook and found that they are currently kind of open on Wednesday and Saturday so I thought I would pop in to give it a look. I have a mate visiting town before he sets off for a permanent stay on the Australian shores so thought it would be cool to try out some beer at a new place to give him that last taste of home. We made our way down to Albert road in the fast-becoming brewing mecca, Woodstock. Once we found the building we found ourselves looking through the gate to find the owner, Steve, sweeping up and after a hesitant "Hi, are you guys open yet?" he kind of looked around and said "Sure, why not. Come on in". On offer were some of the last litres of left-overs from the media launch at the end of June which included a delicious apple cider, a beautifully tart pomegranate cider and their flagship Pale Ale. The latter completely took me by surprise as I must admit it challenges what I have come to know as a garden variety pale ale today...brewed like an ale and treated like a lager this beer has a beautiful granadilla nose which pulls you right into its mildly bitter, slightly dry and lager-styled finish. According to the owner it takes a bit of trickery to pull this off (treating the brewing liquor and tweaking temperatures throughout the process), but he should be proud of the results as it is a great beer. As for the actual brewery side of things they are still using some of the original "test batch" equipment from when they were dreaming up recipes last year in Stellenbosch and have now added some custom made fermentation vessels built to the owner's exact specifications by some Mzanzi wizards. It is a fastidious and well kept environment as every brewer knows the importance of cleanliness. During our afternoon visit we could see one of the employees walking around polishing and keeping things in order just in case. Steve's proudest achievement is the UV filtering system which will actually kind of revolutionize the craft beer industry in its own way. At the moment, your average ales are brewed with a recommended shelf life of around 4-6 months. With this system he estimates that beers will be able to keep safely for at least three times as long allowing South African brewers to reach a much wider audience with their product for example. A smart business man coming from a celebrated marketing background, Steve knows full-well how to promote his product and generate some interest. When I asked him about the marketing campaign (outsourced to an external agency) he assured me it was all in good fun and the idea is to bring beer back to pure enjoyment instead of it being a fashion item. I have done a post on this before so I know where he is coming from... I see someone trying to turn the beer industry inside out by trying to make people laugh at themselves and reminding them to get back to the basic idea of drinking beer for enjoyment. At the same time I see someone that is terribly passionate about his craft and will try anything to get it as near to his perfect vision as possible. In his estimation (and I kind of agree) the craft beer wave has swept up a couple of snobs in its tidal wave of success to the point of some patrons denigrating other brands and beer drinkers for their methods and choices. He has even seen some people sitting down to sniff at a glass and criticize a brewer for going three or four IBU's over what it should be...really!?!? This is a man that is very easy going and one who introduced himself to everyone that happened into the brewpub that afternoon after us. He is more than happy to discuss anything from street art, music and cars through travel and even a couple of naughty jokes and anecdotes. He is also very open about discussing all things beer and is quick to give you a run down of successes and failures he has had to endure thus far. During the afternoon of chatting to him I had picked up one or two tips that I can carry with me for my brewing experiments. I am honestly looking forward to their official (commercial) launch and cannot wait to try some of the other treats that I saw bubbling away as I was taking a quick tour of the brewery side - there was mention of a coffee stout and a possible witbier experiment.
With the attitude and drive l see from this guy and his Garagista ethos, it will be hard to fall short of the mash tun. If anything, I expect some serious stuff from this little "smaller than nano" brewery... |
About me
Recently enlightened by the exciting world of craft beer I have been falling in love with new flavors, colors and smells. I do not consider myself a professional brewer (yet), but I am an enthusiast and passionate about beer and that is all that matters... Archives
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