Where to from here?

Probably the best place to expand your knowledge is at commercial microbreweries in your area, especially ones with an attached bar. For research. And to talk to other brewers, of course. Beer nerds are like any other nerds. They seek out their peers so they can yammer on about some frangipani sour beer or other, and dispense unsolicited advice. Find us. Ask questions (Or don’t. You’ll get answers either way.). There are also plenty of homebrew clubs all over the country, with workshops and competitions happening every other weekend – all great places to get advice and nick ideas. We did all of the above, and then took a small step towards large-scale brewing: We bought a share in the Brewers Co-op ( www.brewers.coop) in Woodstock, Cape Town. Now we, as Dutch Courage Brewing Company, brew beer and sell it right there, in the attached tap room, along with 15 other ‘nanobrewers’ like us. Everyone there still has their day jobs and we all brew only when we want to, and it is also a bigger set-up – a three-pot, 120 L, semicomputerised deal – so it’s a great way to step out of the garage without having to, you know, drop a few hundred grand on your own brewery. That may be the next step for us, far in the future. The next step for you? Get brewing.