Road tripping for the hops: Craft breweries of KwaZulu-Natal

When a Castle or a Windhoek isn't enough to satisfy your beer cravings, we are lucky enough to have access to a growing craft beer industry that will make you spoilt for choice - if you find yourself in a province with a healthy brewing scene that is.

KwaZulu-Natal is in the top three provinces with the most breweries, and the golden veins of the craft brew are slowly inching its way across the province with small microbreweries popping up in the local pubs. One day hopefully you'll be able to order a home-brew in every pub across the country.

Many travel to the Cape winelands specifically to taste their way through their vineyards, so why wouldn't you travel to hop your way through KwaZulu-Natal's independent brew scene.

Basset Breweries

In Pennington on the south coast, you can taste the hair of the dog at Basset Breweries, who also offer brewery tours booked beforehand. You can try their regular beers like the Umdoni Gold ale, Befreckled Red amber ale, Pennington Pride porter or Barking Blonde.

Robsons Real Beer

A Durban classic, Robsons Real Beer is available throughout the country, but at its brewery you'll get a real feel for what it's all about. Their strong range includes the West Coast Ale lager, East Coast golden ale, Hammer of Thor pale ale or their Durban Export Pilsner.

The Ballito Brewing Company

This coastal brewery was once known as The Great Railroad Brewing Company, but the name change hasn't stalled their drive to make any style of beer on demand. They have a wide range, including a Belgian ale, Olde English ale, Bohemian pilsner and even a strawberry ale.

Drakensberg Brewery

If you want your beer with a view, then you should head out to the Drakensberg for this brewery, where 10 cents from every bottle sold goes towards conserving the local vulture population. Their beers include a Cathedral Peak Pilsner, Amphitheatre Red Ale, Giant's Castle Stout and Champagne Castle Blonde Ale.

1000 Hills Brewing Company

This brewery is quite an education in beer - literally! It's actually part of a chef school where students can learn the art of beer making and you get to taste their efforts. The names of their beers stick with the education theme, which includes The Cheerleader amber ale, The Graduate IPA, The Dean pilsner and The Fes Belgian ale with a whopping 9% alcohol content.

Source: Traveller24