After a long hike, we drove past a rather interesting place. A brewery, a chocolaterie, and a creamery, all situated next to each other at the feet of the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. We could not miss this place. We are all obsessed with chocolate, I am obsessed with beer, and my girlfriend loves cheese, so it was actually a match made in ... heaven? Or was this a gluttonous affair, an unholy trinity? I will let you be the judge of that!
So, please join me on this virtual journey to an interesting place which we found at the feet of the spectacular Drakensberg mountains, a place where I could see myself get lost, and drink way too much beer.
The Drakensberg Chocolate Memories
We saw the chocolate bars at the little shop where we camped, also at the foot of the Drakensberg mountains. My girlfriend has also covered some of the hikes we did into the mountains, illustrating the thirst we had for beer and the need for sugar to replenish the day's extreme activities! So, when we saw the sign for chocolate, and we recognised that it was the same chocolate place as the bars we saw in the shop where we camped, we were hooked!
The chocolate bar, as they call it, offers a wide variety of chocolate, from diabetic-friendly bars to 70% dark chocolate. They also offer various chocolate products, such as chocolate fountains, coffees mixed with chocolate, or is it chocolate mixed with coffee? As you walk in, you are hit with the smell of sugar, chocolate, and gluttony. They also have their own roastery, where they roast coffee beans. So they have many coffees to choose from as well.
The staff is so friendly, and they offer a free chocolate tasting. They place a small piece of every bar they offer on the palm of your hand, and rather interestingly, they want you to go from very bitter to sweet, and not the other way around. Usually, with beer and wine, you go from sweetish and light to dark-heavy-bitter. Now, they said we needed to start with the 70% dark chocolate, and end with the milky bars. It actually worked, and made the sweet taste even sweeter!
In the end, they also gave us what they called a "chocolate freezo", which is basically ice and milk chocolate which they blended. It turned out to be so delicious, and refreshing after the long hike!
They had a special we could not resist... When you buy ten bars, you pay almost half the price of what one bar usually costs. At the camp, it cost us about $2.50 USD and when you buy 10 or more bars, you pay only about $1.50 USD. Because we are all chocolate-obsessed, and we wanted to gift some to our friends and family, we bought an undisclosed amount of bars which I cannot say because this will just illustrate the depth of the obsession!
They offered so many chocolate dishes as well. We did not really buy these products, as we were in a hurry to get to the beer! But, to any chocolate-obsessed person like us, this place is very dangerous! In the end, we bought an undisclosed amount of chocolate bars, coffee, and some other gifts for friends and family.
The Macedonia Cheese Co. Cheese Shop
After tasting the chocolate, over-sweetening ourselves, we needed to balance it with some salty cheese and some beer. I have a slight obsession with cheese, but luckily my girlfriend as well. We tasted some cheeses they had to offer, and I was blown away by their fontal cheese. I immediately bought some for us to taste while we drank our beers.
But they had so many cheeses on offer, from soft mouldy cheeses like brie and camembert to harder cheddars and then the fontal.
Sadly, we could not buy too much because we still had a distance to drive with no way of keeping the cheese cool. There is nothing as bad as cheese that starts to leak some of its oil due to the heat and then you try to cool it down again... No, I would rather enjoy the cheese there! And that is what we did.
Interestingly, they also had a cheese they called "Kwaito". This is a music genre from South Africa, and I quite liked the idea of using it in the cheese! Also of interest, I think it is from another creamery, but they sell the cheese there as well! A symbiotic affair of sorts.
The Drakensberg Brewery
The main event was obviously the beer. Or at least for me. I craved the beer by now so much. We took the cheese, broke it into small pieces to snack on, and we ordered our beers.
My girlfriend usually does the tastings, and I usually just get the IPA.
On offer was their Blonde, Stout, IPA, Pilsner, and Red Ale. Sadly, I could not buy bottled IPAs because they were out of stock, but I did buy all of the other four! Their stout is amazing, it is according to me their best beer. I had the bottle yesterday, and it tasted so much like my own Stout beer that I brewed in my youth. I want to call it nostalgia in a bottle!
The atmosphere was also great, and the staff were so friendly. It is lovely to see that South Africa still has this feeling of comradery and friendliness when politics tries to create so much hate between everyone.
If this place was not 1200km away from me, I would hike every morning just to get my beer after the hike!
Also, the photograph I used right at the beginning of this post shows their own hops! I wonder if they use the hops that they grow? I forgot to ask them, so we will never know...
I am not sure if I already wrote about this, but this little passport of mine will be featured in a lot more posts in this coming year. A great initiative launched by some avid beer drinkers, the beer passport offers up to 150 free beers to anyone who owns one! I already drank 3 or 4 free beers from various breweries. You give them the passport, they stamp it for you, and they pour you a beer. This was one of the best investments I made!
In any case, the brewery is beautiful as well. Behind glass doors, you can see the inner workings of the beast. I love it when they keep things on the minimal side.
The Many Small Shops
Also on offer at this incredible place are various smaller shops that sell different things for everyone's taste. I think this is more geared towards tourists, as the prices are quite steep for locals. I will stick with the beer!
But what caught my eye was the jams and different spreads! I am always game to try something new, and this place really had so much to offer.
Postscriptum, or Indulge Indulge Indulge!
I always love to go to places like this. I indulge in all of the things we cannot buy in the shop. It is rare these days to find things not available at the shops. I am not sure I have ever seen Fontal cheese in my shop. And obviously, these beers are only available at the brewery.
But I also do not like shops like this, because my bank account does not like it.
Jokes aside, this is really a wonderful place to visit, especially after a hike. You can get some energy-fuel and some beer! I really do hope that you will visit here and that you enjoyed this virtual adventure.
All of the writings in this post are my own. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and iPhone.