DURBAN - KwaZulu-Natal has a rapidly growing craft beer sector that’s now getting organised to put its production and pub facilities on the map.
Kloof-based marketing specialist, Warren Eade, who founded a marketing “movement” known as “The Craft Revolution”, is working to grow the sector together with 19 of the province’s 22 craft breweries. The province’s craft breweries produce more than 100 flavours and can be found far and wide: in Pennington on the South Coast, in Durban, in the Valley of 1000 Hills, the Midlands and Drakensberg, as well as Ballito on the North Coast.
Eade said the aim of the “movement” to grow the sector was to encourage consumers to buy local and support small businesses.
“I am a home brewer. I was always interested in brewing beer. I realised that it was tough out there for breweries to get started and there are not enough craft beer drinkers to support them, although it is now growing,” Eade said.
So instead of developing another brewery, Eade decided to help existing businesses market themselves.
One of the initiatives Eade spearheaded recently was the creation of a high-quality video advertisement promoting KZN brewers that local businesses are sharing on their social media pages. He also helped the sector develop a quality standard. Every beer that passes a quality test is marked with a sticker that reads “Proudly KZN Craft Beer” and guarantees that a beer has been made to “the highest manufacturing standards through independent product testing”.
“We have independent tasters who taste the beer and make sure there are no ‘off’ flavours, so we have created a standard that will guarantee the drinker that they have a beer that has been passed by our tasters/auditors and that they are supporting local brewers,” Eade said.
He added that the sector was collaborating with KZN Tourism on developing a map - “The KZN Brew Route” - so that visitors could take tours of local breweries and savour their beers.
“In the beginning, KZN was the leader of the craft movement in South Africa, but slowly Cape Town and Joburg took the lead. In the past five years there has been another resurgence of breweries in KZN, which I think has to do with the awareness of the bigger craft breweries in Cape Town and Joburg. Craft beer has become more popular and people are looking for local breweries,” Eade said.