SAM MUKWAMU
Anvil Brewery is a South African brewery, located in Dullstroom. The brewery opened its doors in 2010 and has been serving drafts of their beer, as well as local foods, which include boozy cakes, at their in house pub. Anvil Brewery will be at this year’s Capital Craft Beer Festival. PDBY spoke to Anvil Brewery in anticipation of their appearance at the festival.
Having opened in 2010, how has your brewery grown since then?
Theo de Beer, who started the Anvil brewery and brew house back in 2010 and also developed all eight of the current beer recipes, recently handed over his mantle of brew-master to Christo Holtzhausen, who has been co-brewer for the last 5 years. The Anvil will continue to grow organically, because of wider distribution outside of Dullstroom. It’s important for the brewery to remain in Dullstroom, because of the sub-Alpine water we use to make our beer. It is, after all, the highest brewery in the Southern Hemisphere and the water is very special up there.
You specialise in brewing European style ales. Why did you decide to brew your beers in this manner, instead of beers similar to mainstream South African beers?
Our brew master Theo had a passion for making beer derived from traditional recipes that he gives his own personal South African twist. Such as the buchu infusion in our Bookoo beer which is based on a “wit’ beer. Our new Malificent amber ale is based on an Alaskan recipe, and our IPA actually uses Californian hops.
It is, after all, the highest brewery in the Southern Hemisphere and the water is very special up there.
Since you are located in Dullstroom, are any of your beers sold in Pretoria. If not how can Pretorians get themselves some?
The intention is to bring Anvil on tap to selected bars and restaurants in Johannesburg and Pretoria as well as bottles to some speciality bottle stores. And soon everyone in South Africa will be able to get Anvil beer online from the website.
Capital Craft Beer Festival gives the people to come together and connect while enjoying good beer. Do events such as this give brewers such as yourselves the chance to connect and share ideas with other breweries?
Most definitely! Craft beer brewers are a pretty close knit community and everyone loves sampling everyone else’s beer. Things can get pretty blurry later on in the day, but it’s a great way to catch up with the everyone.
“We keep a low profile, but deliver on quality” is written on your website. What can people expect from you, in terms of quality, that is different from other breweries?
We have done really well at the International Craft Beer Awards held in the UK. In the last two years we have been awarded African brewer of the Year, won two golds for our Mjolnir IPA, and silvers for our White and Bookoo beers. No one really knows that. We let the beer do the talking.
Image: Provided
