Capturing the personality and spirit of Africa in beer
Lethukuthula Tshabangu is the founder of Cape Town-based brewery Ukhamba Beerworx
Tell me how you ended up founding a brewery.
I was working as a bartender in a place that sells craft beer and totally fell in love with beer. I wanted to learn more every day about the process from beginning to end. I soon realised that making great beer is an art form — liquid art.
I saw there was an opportunity to start my own brewery where I could make beer my way — modern beer with an African identity. As one of the only black brewers in the country, I felt I was in a unique position to try and capture the spirit and personality of Africa in beer.
The process of making beer is part art, part science. What appeals to you most about the process?
What the customers love most about Ukhamba Beerworx is that we expand the boundaries of flavour. I love to experiment with flavours, to see how they interact. Our black India pale ale (IPA) has roasty chocolate and lightly spicy malt flavours with citrus hops. We also use sorghum malt, which is popular with making umqombothi (traditional African beer).
For our all-day IPA, we use citrus — grapefruit — flavours. I like to work with flavours so that we can offer something for everyone.
What is your favourite beer?
I make beer for myself before selling to other people. So that makes all my beers a favourite because they were initially designed for me, by me. What makes your job stressful?
One of the biggest challenges I encountered was getting a grip on my finances. I’m not a numbers person, and when I started, I bungled a lot of finances. In fact, the business nearly didn’t work because of it. Now I use accounting software Xero, which has changed my life. It makes an ordinary guy like me look like an accountant.
What did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to be a lawyer, mainly because that’s what my mom wanted. So I was going to do it for her, not for me.
What do you find most meaningful about the work you do?
Beer is meant to be shared — it has its own culture of integration. In the history of the Nguni people of Southern Africa like Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele and Swazi, it was custom for tribesmen to gather in a circle sharing umqombothi from a clay pot called ukhamba. The bigger pots were used for brewing, while the smaller ones were passed around to drink and enjoy the beer. Ukhamba was also used as currency in barter trading. Broken pots were not thrown away but used for roasting ground nuts and burning impepho.
So, when you are enjoying a beer with friends and strangers, you are celebrating the traditional legacy of the Nguni people. This is a tradition we try to preserve. The fact that I can create these moments through beer and capture the spirit and personality of Africa is what keeps me going. What part of your job would you like to change or not do at all?
What I love most about running my own business are the challenges, having to face them every day, and having to conquer and grow personally every day. But, as I mentioned, I’m not a numbers person. Having a great accountant and using software like Xero helps, but, if I could, I would probably steer clear of numbers at all times.