Beer

Malted barley supplies the sugar that becomes alcohol, and how far it is kilned sets both the colour and the roasted or biscuity flavours underneath. Hops add bitterness to balance that sweetness, plus aroma running from pine and citrus through to grass and stone fruit. Yeast converts the sugar and contributes flavour of its own, which is the whole basis of the ale and lager split. Water matters more than people expect, since its mineral content changes how bitterness lands.

A stout looks heavy and often is not. Dark colour comes from roasted malt, and roasting adds coffee and chocolate character without adding much alcohol along with it. Plenty of pitch-black stouts sit in the same strength range as a standard lager, and plenty of pale golden beers are considerably stronger than they look sitting in the glass. The percentage printed on the label is the only reliable guide. Judging by shade gets it wrong in both directions.

Small breweries operate across the country, clustering in the Western Cape, especially Cape Town and the winelands, in Gauteng around Johannesburg and Pretoria, and in KwaZulu-Natal. What they brew tends to be fresher, made in smaller batches and less heavily filtered, which is why a hazy pale ale looks so different in the glass to a bright commercial lager. Those beers also change faster, because less processing stands between the brewery and the bottle. Take home what you plan to drink soon rather than stockpiling.

International Bitterness Units measure the concentration of the bittering compounds hops leave behind, so a higher number means more of them. What the figure cannot tell you is how bitter the beer will actually taste, because malt sweetness masks bitterness. Treat it as one reading among several.

A pilsner is a lager. The word describes a pale, crisp style that came out of Bohemia and leans harder on hop bitterness and aroma than most other lagers do. All pilsners are lagers; most lagers are not pilsners. On a local shelf a pilsner usually finishes drier and a shade more bitter.

It does, mainly for aroma. A straight-sided glass lets aroma escape, while one that narrows towards the rim holds it where your nose is. A pour that builds a proper head releases more of it again. Rinse the glass in hot water and leave no detergent film.