ON THE HOP
Brauhaus am Damm Weizen 440ml bottle, around R25
T wo weekends ago, thirsty crowds descended on a picturesque Free State town to enjoy dozens of beers from all over South Africa. Clarens Beer Festival combines warm country charm with city-style variety, making it one of the country’s leading beer festivals.
And, typically, I wasn’t there this year. Stuck in the Cape on assignment, I quenched my jealousy by having my very own festival — on the couch, watching the Sharks, furiously checking the scores for my fantasy rugby team.
During the course of my glamourous evening in I reacquainted myself with Brauhaus am Damm’s excellent Weizen — appropriate, seeing as it had been judged one of the top beers in the Clarens festival the day before.
Brauhaus am Damm bought the bulk of its equipment from Farmer’s Brewery, a pioneering micro that was once the pride of Hattingspruit in northwestern KwaZulu-Natal. Situated at the lovely Olifantsnek Dam near Rustenburg, Am Damm uses its gleaming second-hand system to churn out great German-style brews — impressive, given that brewer Imke Pape is mostly self-taught and only has a few years of brewing experience.
“I’m very proud of the Weizen,” Pape says. “When I first composed the recipe, I asked a couple brewmasters for their thoughts on it — but I didn’t get any feedback.” She laughs. “I just thought, ‘To hell with you! I’ll do it my way.’”
And it’s good that she did. The Weizen pours a handsome sunset orange with an invitingly thick white head. Delicately perfumed, it keeps its competing clove, bubblegum and banana components — phenols and esters undesirable in most beer styles, but essential elements of German weissbier — in a restrained, yet buoyant balance; something Pape insists is the result of using fresh yeast, but is probably more indicative of an uncommonly nuanced understanding of her craft.
Either way, the result is a clean, composed, satisfyingly wholesome beer — enjoyable whether you’re under the imperious Free State sun, or just wallowing about at home.