Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer Birthday: Lucy Corne-Duthie

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Today is the 44th birthday of Lucy Corne, a.k.a. Lucy Corne-Duthie, who’s a beer writer in South Africa, although she was originally born in Great Britain. She first began writing travel books, before moving on to beer in her adopted home of South Africa, writing African Brew: Exploring the Craft of South African Beer and Beer Safari: A journey through the craft breweries of South Africa. She also used to go by the moniker Brewmistress. I first met Lucy in Nashville during World Beer Cup judging when she attended one our beer writers guild seminars. We also worked together on Flagship February, and last year I was happy to join her in South Africa to judge the African Beer Cup, a continent-wide competitions she co-founded and helps to run. But I spent even more time with her in Germany and Belgium for the Brussels Beer Challenge and a press trip directly afterwards through Flanders. She’s a great ambassador for craft beer, not only in South Africa but the world. Join me in wishing Lucy a very happy birthday.

Lucy and me at Banana Jam.
Lucy with Emily Sauter (whose birthday is also today) and me in Belgium last year.
Lucy, with Pete Slosberg, Greg Casey, and me at the judge’s after-party at the Afro-Caribbean Brewery.
On our to way to Eupen, we stopped for a quick look-see in Maastricht with Marek Kaminski, Em Sauter, me, Lucy and Jan Lichota
At the very end of our press trip through Flanders. From left: Edu Villegas, me, Lucy, Stijn Van Houdt, Jaime Ojeda Selamé, Stephen Beaumont, and Andy Crouch.

Beer In Ads #823: Einstein’s Theory Of Relativity

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Thursday’s ad is for the South African SAB brand Hofbrau Premium Lager. It’s not particularly old, having been created in 1998, but since today is Albert Einstein’s birthday it seemed an appropriate ad for today. I assume it’s the same amount of beer, but because there are two different size glasses, our perception of how much beer is in each is relative to the size of the glass.

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South Africa Beer

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Today in 1910, the Union of South Africa was formed from four British colonies; and on the same day in 1961, South Africa declared themselves a republic.

South Africa
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South Africa Breweries

South Africa Brewery Guides

Other Guides

Guild: None Known

National Regulatory Agency: None

Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known

Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.05% and 0.02% for professional drivers (trucks over 3.5 tonnes, and vehicles carrying passengers for reward) National Road Traffic Act, 1996

south-africa

  • Full Name: Republic of South Africa
  • Location: Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
  • Government Type: Republic
  • Language: IsiZulu (official) 23.82%, IsiXhosa (official) 17.64%, Afrikaans (official) 13.35%, Sepedi (offcial) 9.39%, English (official) 8.2%, Setswana (official) 8.2%, Sesotho (official) 7.93%, Xitsonga (official) 4.44%, siSwati (official) 2.66%, Tshivenda (official) 2.28%, isiNdebele (official) 1.59%, other 0.5%
  • Religion(s): Protestant 36.6% (Zionist Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%), Catholic 7.1%, Muslim 1.5%, other Christian 36%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1%
  • Capital: Pretoria (administrative capital); Cape Town (legislative capital); Bloemfontein (judicial capital)
  • Population: 48,810,427; 26th
  • Area: 1,219,090 sq km, 25th
  • Comparative Area: Slightly less than twice the size of Texas
  • National Food: Bobotie
  • National Symbols: Springbok Antelope, Elephant (mammals), Blue Crane (bird); King Protea; Real yellowwood; Table Mountain
  • Affiliations: UN, African Union, Commonwealth
  • Independence: May 31, 1910 (Union of South Africa formed from four British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State); May 31, 1961 (republic declared)

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  • Alcohol Legal: Yes
  • Minimum Drinking Age: 18
  • BAC: 0.05%
  • Label Requirements: N/A
  • Number of Breweries: 30

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  • How to Say “Beer”: bier
  • How to Order a Beer: A beer, ah-suh-bleef
  • How to Say “Cheers”: Amandla / Gezondheid (Afrikaans)
  • Toasting Etiquette: For a toast, South Africans raise their glasses and say “Cheers!” On less formal occasions, they sometimes clink their glasses together and say “Chin Chin.”

so-africa-map

Alcohol Consumption By Type:

  • Beer: 56%
  • Wine: 17%
  • Spirits: 16%
  • Other: 11%

Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):

  • Recorded: 6.96
  • Unrecorded: 2.50
  • Total: 9.46
  • Beer: 3.93

WHO Alcohol Data:

  • Per Capita Consumption: 7 litres
  • Alcohol Consumption Trend: Stable
  • Excise Taxes: Yes
  • Minimum Age: 21
  • Sales Restrictions: Some for time, location
  • Advertising Restrictions: No
  • Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: No

Patterns of Drinking Score: 4

Prohibition: None

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Pink Beer … You Know, For The Girls

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Apparently there’s yet another misguided attempt to reach women with the aim of tempting them to try beer by making the color of the beer pink. This time it’s a group of young South African women attending Durban University of Technology who came up with the idea for the beer, which they’re calling Pink Fantasy, according to a post yesterday on Beer Universe. Needless to say, all of the women I know who love craft beer drink it because of how it tastes, not because it matches their shoes. Are there really women in the world who, when pressed, would actually say, “well, I’d try beer if only it wasn’t that unpleasant orange … or golden … or brown … or black? But if it was pink, like Barbie, maybe I would actually get over my ignorant phobia that beer is bitter and how I just know I won’t like it. Maybe I’ll finally give this kicky new pink beverage a try.” Sheesh. I could keep ranting, but I think Ginger Johnson from Women Enjoying Beer said it best in these two posts: Still Not “Getting It” and Marketing Beer to Women, Part 4: No Pink.

Beer In South Africa

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If you’re like me, you don’t know all that much about the beer market in South Africa. In today’s Business Week, however, there was an interesting article about the market and how Heineken is going after the market leader, SABMiller. (Thanks to Anat for pointing this out.) You probably knew the SAB part of SABMiller got its start in South Africa, having been founded as South African Breweries in 1895, with Castle Lager as their best-selling beer. The article, entitled Heineken Targeting SABMiller’s Beer ‘Monopoly’ in South Africa, gives some interesting tidbits about that market. For example:

  • SABMiller has 89% of the South African beer market.
  • That’s “the largest existing monopoly market in the world.”
  • South Africa is the 9th largest beer market worldwide.