Meet the brewers Woodstock

The road to Damascus is often the road less travelled by⁽¹⁾ Sometimes it is a tortuous route, sometimes meandering, seldom straightforward.  I do not know which is the one taken by Andre Viljoen, but going from banking to owner of a brewery and restaurant seems a less than obvious path.  We met about 4 years ago at a SouthYeaster’s meeting where he expressed great enthusiasm for the brewery he was starting in Woodstock ⁽²⁾  He would have been the first of the new generation of brewers in that part of town.  Despite various obstacles he finally succeeded in being the (at least) 4th brewery located there. Devil’s Peak, Gallows Hill, Garagista and now Woodstock Brewery.  Also coming is Woodstock cooperative brewery,  Riot Factory might be before them.

We remet (is that a word?)  at the excellent Meet the Brewers event on 22 September 2014 and I am glad to report Andre hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for the beer world.  Woodstock’s location makes it a good location for a small manufacturing business. Distance to Cape Town central, access to main transport arteries and I guess the zoning helps.⁽³⁾Woodstock evokes images of Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll from the 1968 music festival.  Images of parking problems, dodgy part of town in connotation with Cape Town also appears.   Therefore the naming convention of the beers sort of leans to Sex, Drugs and Boerie Rolls.

Beerhouse resident chef Roy McAskill returned from Scotland (where he was just a spectator in the voting) just in time for the Woodstock tasting.  First off was the Bing's Bru .⁽⁴⁾  pale ale pared with a McAskil regular, 12 months old Klein Rivier Gruyere this time in a Welsh rarebit guise with green fig.  A combination that worked for me.   

Another McAskill regular is the smoked mackerel pate.  This time pairing with the Belgian amber ale.  I expected more from Belgian Amber ale, but then Mr Viljoen steered me in the direction of De Konick.  Known in it’s homeland as ‘n Bolleke.  My disappointment with this beer was a result of the words Belgian Ale and Amber Ale.  It evoked memories of strong, flavoured beer, but the regular De Koninck is neither.  This Amber Ale is a well made beer, nothing wrong with it.  It is a bit bland compared to the others, but that makes it a great crossover.⁽⁵⁾   beer.

 

At 7.2% an IPA can be daunting, here paired with a Mango curry pie, it sort of worked.  Called Californicator it links to a West Coast IPA and Woodstockian activities (the festival).  The aroma hops is local, a design decision based on cost and provenance.  It is dry hopped with IBU score of about 65.  For my distinctly non hophead palate it tasted very good.  Plans are to lower the alcohol a smidgen. 

“We must have a session beer”.  Session being industry speak for beer you can drink a lot of before losing gross motor skills (fine motor skill being long gone). That was Andre’s take on the unfiltered Happy Pils.  Paired with berries and what I call custard (Chef McAskill , more specifically  calls it Sabyon Glaze. Go look it up, I had to) made with the beer, it made for a good dessert.  This is a very good pilsner.  So confident was Mr Viljoen he brought tasters of Pilsner Urquell and CBC Pilsner for us to compare.  Stylistically very different beers and I liked all of them.  The Woodstock and CBC at a better price point.

Once again well worth the 240km round trip.  Give the guys at Woodstock brewery a shout and visit the brewery, drink their beers.  Tell them I sent you.  Not that it would make a difference, these guys love to share their work.

(1)    Pompous sentence right out of the blocks.

(2)    A part of Cape Town I still consider to be dodgy

(3)    Beer is considered to be a manufactured product, thus needs industrial zoning.  Wine is somehow agricultural.  Hello regulators “Get a @#@#$$%#@$$% life.  And brain while you’re at it”

(4)    Named for Cape radio and surf legend Deon Bing

(5)    Crossover from standard mass market lagers that is.