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I think most South Africans grew up with the idea of an ice-cold lager (either Black Lable or Castle Lager) and a braai-vleis vuur (BBQ meat fire) on most weekends or even during the week. I grew up with my father and grandfather always lighting a fire and opening up a beer after a long week's work or after a weekend gardening process.

With the advent of craft breweries opening up in South Africa, these breweries tried to capitalise on this truly South African feeling of opening a cold lager with a braai.

The market is thus flooded with different craft breweries giving their own unique idea of what a craft lager is.

Some are more successful than others.

In the following series of #BeerSaturday posts, I will sample only a tiny offering of craft lagers in South Africa. (I will obviously sample them with braai vleis!)

So, please join me on this tasting journey!

Without further ado.

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Charlie's Brewery: Sandveld Lager

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| Lager | 4.1 % ABV | 12 IBUs |

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The first smell on my nose was very sweet, a delicate malty sweetness. There were also clear floral, yeasty, and bready notes, something unique to lagers (as I understand them).

But in this case, it really worked for this beer, or my first impression was good!

The first taste, even though I wanted and expected some full-bodied taste, it was a lager after all; the first taste was not full-bodied as my nose thought it would be!

There was a subtle hop taste to it, only mildly linger in the back of my mouth. On their label, they said they used Saaz hops, something familiar for most South African palates.

In the end, the beer became a very complex and beautiful beer for me. It is not the usual lager you will get, but I loved it!

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Karoo Craft Breweries: The Kudu Lager

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| Lager | 4% ABV | 13 IBUs |

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There was a pronounced malty nose when I opened the beer. I also had some nice bitterness (for a lager) on the nose.

My first taste was pleasant, almost full-bodied (in contrast to the first beer).

The malt also came through strongly on my first taste, with a pleasant bitterness on my tongue.

It was somehow more complex than a usual lager, but also not? It was strange, because I knew I was drinking a craft beer, but it also did not taste like one?

There was also a bit less carbonation than the previous beer, but it worked for this beer (or for me).

Of all the beers, it retained its head the best, with some good lacing.

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St. Francis Brewing Co.: The Beach Blonde Lager

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| Lager | 4.5 % ABV | ?? IBUs |

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This beer was by far the closest to commercially brewed lagers, giving all the signals: crisp smell and taste, light colour, white head. But it was so refreshing.

The first smell was nothing out of the ordinary. Good mix between malt and hoppy bitterness.

The first sip was refreshing (as expected from the smell) and well-balanced. Nothing stood out as singular and unique. The beer did not have that classic craft twist to it.

Interestingly, a lot of craft breweries try to brew beers to challenge the corporate and commercial breweries. But this in my opinion closes down the experimentation these breweries can do with beers. The first beer in this review was the only on between these three that tasted like a craft beer!

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Postscriptum, or So the Battle of the Lagers Begin

In the end, these three beers were all very different.

The last beer, the beach blonde, similar to its name conformed to standards set out by the industry and did not really veer to much from what one expected. This comes from these smaller breweries trying to compete with the "big dogs".

The first beer, the Sandveld Lager, was the only one that tried to break with the usual, imparting its unique malty and bready flavours from the malt with the floral notes from the hops.

But all in all, all three beers were refreshing, good, and fine beers by my lay perspective. I enjoyed them all.

For now, happy drinking, and keep well!

*All of the drunken opinions are my own, albeit inspired by these well-brewed beers. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.