It is a day both me and my fiance dread: Beer Festival. We dread it for two different reasons. She dreads it because she needs to deal with me for the rest of the night as a slightly intoxicated being (she does not like alcohol and the smell of it on me), and I dread it because I see all those beers I could not drink. But in the end, beer fest is one of the highlights of the year, even though me and my fiance dread it. She always runs to the honey mead stand first thing when we get through the gates, and I always stand there, feeling slightly overwhelmed with more than 40 different beer stands.
Either way, please follow along as I take you on this beer journey! My tasting notes mixed with some photographs of our food and the music shows that they had on display serves for an interesting read...
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OC and CC Colab Hazy IPA
I knew this would be my first beer. They advertised it the day before. Hazy IPAs is still relatively new in South Africa. But I found their beer stand, while my fiance obviously rand to the honey mead stand.
Their beer had a funky name: hops must be crazy hazy IPA. It indeed had some crazy hop floral fruity grapefruit notes.
The first taste was bitter but with all of the hoppy greatness that I look for in Hazy IPAs. It was truly everything you wanted from a hazy IPA. I liked the grapefruit notes with the bitterness. It also had a slightly yeasty, flavour but it was beautifully cloudy.
Interlude: Music and Whisky
We had a nice band playing some blues and jazz tunes. At the back of the music stand was the mead stand. I found my fiance there, but the same stand also sold protea smoked whisky. I knew I had to try a small shot of this. It tasted nothing like anything I have tried! I thought I would get peat, but I did not...
Dancing Hops' Kokomo Hazy
I scouted my next hazy IPA, and found it after not too long of a search.
Sadly, it did not have much on the nose; only some grapefruit.
However, the taste was amazing. It had a delicate balance between hops and malt with an incredible hazy colour. It was an amazing beer. The more I drank, the smoother mouthfeel I got.
Soul Barrel's Soul of Africa
This is beer as it should be in South Africa. A blend between European beers and traditional South African Sorghum beer.
It had a beautiful sour nose, something close to apple cider vinegar. It is by no means an ordinary beer.
The first taste was very sour. I tasted some hops, but there were a lot of peach and sorghum notes. As it warmed a bit, I got some apricot, then more sour, and then some hints of pear.
Note: The photograph below-left is traditional beer vessels in which they drink fermented sorghum beer.
Jack Black's Wolves of Winter
This is a beer I reviewed last week, but this time on tap. It is a seasonal and limited beer, so it was a good one.
At first, I got a lot of roasted malt on my nose, but it was extremely bitter on the nose. Definitely a lot of dark malt.
The first taste was also extremely bitter, with dark roasted malt on the tongue. It was almost like coffee beans on the nose which is what it tasted like. In fact, it smelled and tasted exactly like roasted and chocolate malt (for those homebrewers who know the smell of those malts). There was a lot of bitterness from the hops but I could not taste it; the taste was almost 100% malt.
Interlude: Some Necessary Beer Snacks
We could not survive on just beer. So, we needed to grab some snacks. We did four things: chips, corn dogs, and extremely sweet caramel mini donuts.
We also had some very cool music again. There was definitely not a shortage on food, beer, and music!
Trigger Fish's Monsterfish – Russian Imperial Stout
This was just an amazing beer. It had big porter roasted malt on the nose, with some sweetness. It had a strong alcoholic smell, with bitter on the nose.
The first taste was strong roasted notes, as it was a big beer. Definitely a porter porter style ale, and I just loved it. Even though it had some incredible bitterness from the roasted malt and hops, added with the alcoholic taste at 11% ABV, it was just fantastic.
(This was one of the African Beer Cup winners!)
OC's Double IPA
I found my way back to the brewery I started the day with. This time I had to try the double IPA.
It had some incredible hop notes, definitely grapefruit. It was bitter on the nose and on the taste. There was that familiar alcohol warmth with the first sip. The more I drank of it, the more bitter it became. But it was an incredible beer.
Harper Charity Brewery's IPA
We ended the day with a charity brewery. When I first drank their beers, I saw that all of the profit goes to charity. What an incredible story!
The beer had strong citrus, but especially grapefruit on the nose.
The first taste was incredibly bitter. It did not have a lot of the IPA notes I got on the nose in the taste. But nonetheless, a good beer.
In the end, we had too much beer, but our ears were singing from the loud music and we ate too much caramel mini donuts. We are already waiting for the next festival!
For now, happy drinking and keep well.
All of the musings and writings are my own. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.