By MIKE HALLS
For the first time in a couple of months I am reviewing a Western Cape brewery! It’s been a hectic year, travelling around this beautiful country, but I’m very happy to be staying in the Cape for the rest of 2017. We stayed for two nights in Greyton at The Old Potters Inn and it really was just what the doctor ordered (no pun intended). It is located in such a peaceful and idyllic setting and Greyton is a lovely little town. Waking up to a view from the bedroom of cows being fed, absolute bliss. Greyton is less than two hours drive from Cape Town, making it the perfect location for a long weekend getaway from the City, or a stop-off on your way up the Garden Route. I highly recommenced a stay at The Old Potters Inn, booking information can be found on their website here.
The Old Potter’s Inn is situated in Greyton (Overberg area in the Western Cape), only 110km from Cape Town. Nestled amongst the oaks, this charming heritage house that was once a pottery, is now a small personalized bed and breakfast. This National Monument is thought to be the oldest building in Greyton, dating back to the 1830’s.
The brewery, nestled at the back of the Inn, has just celebrated its first birthday. They brew four beers on site; a Saison, Amber Ale, Pale Ale and a IPA.
Old Potter’s Inn offers B&B rooms and self catering cottages which is set amongst the weeping willows and offer en-suite bathrooms, queen size beds, lounge with fireplace and TV and a swimming pool outside. The B&B offers 3 standard queen and 1 deluxe en-suite room that is situated above the dining room areas. The B&B has retained the original walls and wooden beams and offers a cosy fireplace, lounge and a saltwater pool.
The main reason for my visit to Old Potters Inn last week, was to brew their Amber Ale on a small scale home brew system. About six months ago, I had this dream to visit craft breweries around the country and brew their tried and tested recipes on my Grainfather.
The idea was to release these recipes, for a 25 liters batch of craft beer, so that home brewers in South Africa (or around the world) can attempt to recreate their favorite beers. My vision behind this is that home brewers get to try out new recipes and once brewed they will buy the breweries beer to compare theirs to the original. Win-win, much in the same way that Brewdog in the UK released their entire recipe book, it’s great marketing!
However the idea lost a bit of traction after the first couple of brewers I spoke with became very guarded with their recipes. Then I spoke to Trevor, owner of Old Potters, and he couldn’t have embraced the concept with more enthusiasm. We now have a good list of breweries willing to take part next year, but Old Potters was always going to be the first.
You can check out the video below and can find the full recipe here. We’d love to see photos/ videos/ stories of your attempts to brew the Rooinek Amber Ale.
To check out my reviews of Old Potters beers, click the link on the images below:
