26 March 2014
Pinotage Ale: A World First
Beyers ‘King of Pinotage’ Truter’s winery is a temple to the
Pinotage grape. The winery logo on walls and bottle labels is a distinctive bright
red Pinotage leaf. The Red Leaf restaurant serves Pinotage flavoured foods,
including the famed Pinotage Burger with its dressing of Pinotage onion jam. In
the tasting room you can sample and purchase red, white, pink and sparkling Pinotage
wines, and also fortified port-style wines fortified with Pinotage brandy.
If it can be improved by Pinotage (and few things can’t)
then Beyers has done it -- with ice cream, Pinotage jam, and Pinotage infused
meats and sausages.
Recently Beyers was on a marketing trip to Belgium, rightly
famed for the range and breadth of its beers. One evening, off duty and
enjoying a glass of Kriek lambic ale, inspiration struck.
Once back home he booked himself on to a craft beer-making
course. Kriek ale is steeped and fermented with cherries in a process that
pre-dates the addition of hops.
What beer drinkers have been sadly lacking, however, is a
Pinotage beer.
But salvation is on hand. Shortly Beyers will launch the
world’s first Pinotage beer, provisionally titled Pinotale.
It will be available at first at Beyerskloof winery but Beyers
tells me that he is in discussions with a large brewing company who are keen to
distribute it nationally.
First South Africa: next the World!
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I tasted the Pinotale on Saturday. A very fruity beer and a distinct taste. I enjoyed it a lot, however I don't think its a beer that I would drink on a regular basis. As for a specialty beer to be enjoyed occasionally its very good.
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