PLEASURE BREWING

ago in Europe people woke up to the fact that they wanted those local tastes and flavours back. The slow-food movement started in Italy, and a place such as Belgium never really lost its love of beer.” Kung’s CBC project started to materialise in 2011 and its “maiden brew” was poured the following year. The company operates out of Spice Route Farm, a brewery adjacent to the Fairview wine and cheese estate just outside Paarl in the Western Cape, where it is close to high-quality natural water and good highways. “We have Swedish partners who are sixth-generation owners of an independent brewery in Sweden,” says Kung. “The owner had a keen affinity with the Western Cape and when the opportunity came to make a little dream come true, he jumped at it.”

There is a natural spring on the CBC property that continues to provide clean, plentiful water despite the Western Cape’s drought. Kung says supervision of water is absolutely key in the brewing process and there’s a pre-treatment phase during which CBC is careful to monitor the water’s iron content for fear of it corroding the company’s stainless steel pipes and vats.

Ingredients are usually sourced locally, with the exception of hops, which Kung says is often flown in from Europe. It comes in the form of pellets and can be sourced and received in a matter of days. Transportation by sea is laborious and subject to temperature fluctuations; to any self-respecting independent micro- or craft brewer it’s not a chance worth taking.

Beer brewing does, of course, consume vast amounts of