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Craft Brewing

Introduction

Bosheuvel Estate, Hillcrest Estate, De Vry Distillery are some of several farming operations that include craft brewing on the sidelines. Alongside Pinzgauer stud cattle, sorghum fields, vineyards and dairy, craft brewing is an additional revenue stream and attraction. We provide the reader with a short overview of this sector. As usual, we list sources and role players from which you can find out more.

Local business environment

Find statistics and the economic and social contribution of the South African beer industry at https://beersa.org.

Before the Covid-19 lockdowns and the ban on alcohol sales, the South African craft beer market had its value estimated at R1,4 billion (Botha, 2019), with a forecast to grow at more than 3% a year between 2019 and 2024 (Botha, 2019).

The growth in craft breweries has been attributed to, amongst other things, “localism (in terms of brewing setting and sourcing of ingredients)”, “naturalness and sustainable production methods”, and the “social context of consumption” e.g. festivals, sports events, craft beer tasting at brewpubs or local markets (BFAP, 2017). The bulk of craft breweries were in the Western Cape, followed by Gauteng.

In January 2021, the Craft Brewers Association South Africa (CBASA) reported that 60% of the staff of CBASA-affiliated businesses had been retrenched, and that 88% of craft brewers would not make it through the second lockdown (CBASA 2021). An entire industry would be in need of financial relief and support until the country was past coronavirus.

After four years, 2023 saw the return Cape Town Festival of Beer, and the resumption of the awards given out at the South African National Beer Trophy (SANBT).

Find the latest South African craft beer news at https://brewmistress.co.za. Statistics and the economic and social contribution of the wider South African beer industry can be sourced at https://beersa.org.

Source: A Business for SA presentation “Alcohol Industry Value Chain” (2021); Farmer’s Weekly article by Lindi Botha and BFAP Baseline Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026 p 51.

Role players

 

Associations

Training and research

Some craft beer breweries

www.craftbeerspotter.co.za, https://craftbru.com and http://brewmasters.co.za list hundreds of craft beer breweries

Other craft brewing

Other role players

Websites and publications

  • Order online at www.arc.agric.za, call 012 842 4017 or send an email to stoltze [at] arc.agric.za for the following publications, available from the ARC Agricultural Engineering: (i) Agro-processing of fermented beverages –Beer (ii) Agro-processing of fermented beverages – Wine (iii) Agro-processing of distilled beverages –Whiskey & Brandy (iv) Agro-processing of regional and traditional fermented beverage.

Directories of craft beers:

Some articles

Table of Contents

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