By MIKE HALLS
On Wednesday, a week after the South African National Beer Trophy at BeerHouse in Cape Town, the third African Beer Awards were held at the Gallagher Convention Center in Midrand. The awards took place in collaboration with Food and Drink Technology (fdt) Africa. Organized by Kate Jones, Chairperson of the IBD Africa Awards and Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela, Chair Person of the IBD Africa Section.
Brewers from across the continent were given that chance to enter, with medals being awarded across five different categories and a trophy to the Grand Champion.
So onto the winners, and there’s some on here that I didn’t recognize, which I guess is to be expected, with entries coming from all across Africa.
Grand Champion
Brewery – Mad Giant
Beer – Killer Hop
Lager under 5%
1st
Brewery – Redrock Brewing Co.
Beer – Rusty Trigger
2nd
Brewery – Darling Brew
Beer – Slow Beer
Beer 5% and over
1st
Brewery – International Breweries
Beer – Hero
2nd
Brewery – Castel Group
Beer – Castel Beer
Pale Ale
1st
Brewery – Mad Giant
Beer – Killer Hop
2nd
Brewery – Franschhoek Beer Co.
Beer – Liberty American Pale Ale
Dark Beer
1st
Brewery – Redrock Brewing Co
Beer – Painted Black
2nd
Brewery – The Franschhoek Beer Co.
Beer – The Stout
Less than 50% Malt
1st
Brewery – Darling Brew
Beer – Bonecrusher
2nd
Brewery – Guinness Ghana
Beer – Odehye 3
We had a chat with Eben from Mad Giant after they picked up the award for Best Pale Ale and Grand Champion, here’s what he had to say:
We are super proud to be the recipients of this prestigious award. The team will taste what Killer Hop tastes like from the trophy tomorrow when we celebrate this big win.
We believe winning this award will open more routes to market and boost our growth aspirations.
Personally I love Killer Hop and rate it as one of the best pale ales in the country so I am delighted to see it winning an award here. For me it was one of the surprise omissions from the list of medals at the SANBT, but I guess that’s just how these competitions go sometimes.
If you haven’t already, go check out the brewery at No. 1 Fox Street in Johannesburg. You’ll be treated with some fantastic, award winning beers which can be paired with some world class food. It’s also the only place to get your hands on the latest release of Whiskey Barrel, a barrel aged Porter.