Beer & Cider

Beer is brewed. Malted grain is mashed with hot water, the sugars are boiled with hops, and yeast turns that liquid into alcohol. Cider skips the grain entirely and ferments pressed apple or pear juice, which puts it closer in principle to wine than to anything on the beer shelf. So beer carries bitterness and bread from malt and hops, while cider carries acidity and orchard fruit from the apples themselves. Once you know which side a bottle sits on, its flavour stops being a surprise.

The split has nothing to do with colour or with strength. Lager yeast works slowly at cold temperatures and settles low in the vessel, producing a clean finish where the malt and hops have nowhere to hide. Ale yeast works warmer and faster, throwing off fruity and spicy compounds as it goes, which is why an ale tastes busier in the glass. A dark lager and a pale ale are both entirely ordinary things. The word on the label describes the ferment, not the shade.

Lager suits the way South Africans tend to drink: outdoors, in heat, often alongside food cooked over coals. Cold fermentation and a light body give a beer that stays refreshing with the sun on it, and that habit has shaped what gets brewed here for generations. Independent brewers have widened things considerably over the past two decades, so pale ales, stouts and wheat beers now sit near the standard lagers. The lager habit still runs deep, but it is no longer the only option.

Most beer is at its best young. Hop aroma fades first, so hop-forward styles lose the most within a few months, while strong dark styles hold up longer. Check the packaging for a date code. Cold, dark storage slows the decline; a warm shelf near a window speeds it up.

Light, not age. Ultraviolet light breaks down compounds left behind by hops and produces a smell most people recognise from a sprayed animal. Green and clear glass let far more of it through than brown does, and cans let none through at all. Store beer in the dark.

Very cold mutes flavour, which is fine for a plain lager on a hot day and wasteful for anything more interesting. Standard lagers and ciders are happiest straight from the fridge. Ales, wheat beers and stouts open up a few degrees warmer, so let one stand a moment first.