First of all, please excuse the delayed write-up of the second annual Cape Town Festival of Beer. It’s taken me this long to recover. If you were one of the 8000 attendees over the three-day festival in Greenpoint, Cape Town, this will serve as a little nostalgia. If for some bizarre reason you didn’t attend, this is what you missed.
Reviews throughout this week have been somewhat mixed and I have to say that this surprises me. Of course, there are different strokes for different folks as they say, but for me the festival comprised everything that a wonderful weekend should – over 20 different styles of largely great beer to be soaked up with good food and backed up with smiling, unpretentious company. Throw in a few bands that seemed to have peeked at my iPod playlist and the sweet aroma of freshly brewed beer (courtesy of the Southyeasters who brewed an impressive 100 litres of beer in five batches over the weekend) and to me, you have the recipe for a perfect trio of days.
Food and tunes aside, for me the festival was, as it probably should be, all about the beer. I picked up the gauntlet thrown down by festival organiser Martin Tucker and methodically worked through the 101 beers on show over three days, tweeting (sometimes less than lucid) reviews of each beer as I went. Here are my picks from the weekend – my personal choices along with the reviews tweeted at time of tasting. Please share yours in the comments section below as I’d love to hear what you loved (and loathed if you must) from the Cape Town Festival of Beer.
Best in show: No.24 @TriggerfishBrew Ocean Potion. Sheer perfection. Tropical fruits, hops galore. Could happily drink all night.
Honourable mention: Devil’s Peak King’s Blockhouse IPA
Best stout: No.26 @DevilsPeakBC Imperial Stout. Launched today, served with dark chocolate. Try these beers, these guys will be huge.
Honourable mention: Newlands Extra Special Stout
Best lager: No.4 @PaulanerSA Lager Full bodied, lashings of malt, delightful finish, not too bitter. Makes me want a boerie roll.
Honourable mention: Birra Moretti
Best imported beer: No.15 @TheBeerGardenSA Valentins Hefeweissbier. Perfect with bratwurst roll. Great full bodied wheat. 1st full pint of day
Honourable mention: Brewers & Union Steph Weiss
Best beer that’ll knock you on your ass: No.68 @den_anker Westmalle Tripel. Rolling with the big boys now. This stuff is awesome.9.5%, honey, crème brulee, touch of bitterness on finish
Honourable mention: Maredsous Triple
Best beer to pair with a fish taco: Darling Bonecrusher brings out the coriander; Jack Black Pilsner douses the heat
Cheeriest exhibitor: Reto Jaeger from Newlands Brewery/SAB
Honourable mention: Bavaria Brad and his dad!
Biggest surprise: Probably that I quite enjoyed Stella Artois. Either that or not hating non-alcoholic beer
Biggest disappointment: That I didn’t have another day to sip at leisure after three days of power-tasting
As you can tell, I had an awesome experience – it would be great to hear yours below. For next year I’d love to see the brewers and food stalls working together to suggest perfect pairings and maybe some interactive games and such – a blind ‘identify the beer’ challenge, some carnival-style activities for non-drinkers and perhaps some small-scale contests with winners every couple of hours alongside the main contest that was announced on Sunday afternoon. The friendly vibe had people chatting with strangers as though they were childhood pals and a few crowd-pleasing activities would have heightened the cheery atmos even further. Oh and soap – for next year guys, there must be soap. At a festival so friendly you’re offered a lot of hands to shake, but knowing everyone present has peed but no-one’s washed their hands is just a little too familiar for me!
If you’ve got the post-beer blues, do not fear – the Durbanville Beer Festival takes place at Hillcrest Wine Estate on December 10th. The food will flow, the beer will flow and there’s an ‘Anything that Floats’ race with all proceeds to charity. Tickets are R50.
