FOR THE STOUT OF HEART

DARK PLEASURES

Craft breweries may be consolidating, but palates are diversifying. The fortunes of darker beer varieties may have once been uncertain, but they’re certainly more familiar fixtures than a year ago.

No matter what, it seems that more people are loving the dark.

Now, the contemporary categorisation of beers can be confusing and differs widely depending on whether you’re in an old or new world brewing country, or how brewers were schooled. That’s probably one of the most likeable characteristics of the humble brew – its evasion of conformity. Just when you thought you’d worked it out, you’ll discover an exception to the rule.

It is, however, not quite the wild west. Generally, principal dark versions will IN A MASSIVE BEER MARKET, DARK BEERS REPRESENT ITS FRINGE. CLIFFORD ROBERTS SHINES A LIGHT ON THIS EXCITING SEGMENT.

fall into the category of top-fermented beers and include stouts and porters alongside wheat beers and ales. Lagers are cold-fermented.

On colour, various standards of measurement are used around the world. The Standard Reference Method measures the reduction in the intensity of a beam of blue light as it passes through 1cm of beer. The European Brewing Convention is determined by comparing colour with amounts of iodine in water.

More to the topic though, dark beers have been uncannily grippy in their presence. Yes, they’re flavourful, with edge. Like Marmite, Night Rider, Shaft and a moonlit midnight ocean. But we’re in a hot country that has loved lager since forever.

The Craft Revolution changed that. Now, there’s an ever-extending list of makers in the field. For starters, here’s a list of top performers in the 2019 African Beer Cup: Brauhaus Dunkel (Brauhaus am Damm), Schwarzbier (Clockwork Brewhouse), The Stout (The Franschhoek Beer Co), Eike Stout (Stellenbosch Brewing Co), Red Special (Shields Indie

“Let a man walk ten miles steadily on a hot summer’s day along a dusty English road, and he will soon discover why beer was invented.” GK Chesterton

Brewing Company) and The Stormy Smoked Porter (Drifter Brewing Company), which won Best Beer in Africa.

The Dark Beer champion at the SA National Beer Trophy was Cape Brewing Company’s Doppelbock, which featured alongside Roadhog Porter (Hoghouse Brewing Co), Shangaan Stout (Sabie Brewery Company) and many others.

Famous beers like Gilroy’s Serious Dark Ale are continuously being joined by newbies like Frontier Beer Co’s Tart of Darkness, a Bourbon-barrel aged stout.

For long, there’s also been an association of dark beer as a winter drink. That led to easy associations with chocolate and coffee. Castle Milk Stout’s Chocolate Infused extension was conceived to be temporary, but its popularity made it a permanent fixture. The market loves this brew and its thirst remains powerful!

Local beer writer Lucy Corne describes Woodstock Brewery’s Mr Brownstone “like Nutella in beer form”. Boston Breweries makes Black River Coffee Stout (5% ABV); the aroma is coffee, but they suggest “Try it with chocolate dessert…”.

But that’s changing too.

“We’re hardly a barometer of what might be happening elsewhere, especially because people come here who are interested in our experimental edge. But, we’ve found that as drinkers broaden their experience, they move to trying more flavourful beers,” says Eric van Heerden, owner of Triggerfish Brewing in Somerset West. “Their default shifts so that they begin to choose beers by occasion.”

The brewery’s range includes the occasional Black Bass oatmeal stout, but Black Marlin Russian Imperial Stout and the Monsterfish Russian Imperial Stout “flavour bomb” increasingly feature yearround, along with its Empowered Stout.

Anja van Zyl, head brewer at Hey Joe! Brewery in Franschhoek considers brewing its Dubbel a patriotic responsibility. “As a Belgium-inspired brewery, it is part of our vision and values to brew a dark beer. The Belgian Dubbel has a lot of history and we like to go back to old school styles and brewing techniques.”

The beers are brewed in two full copper vessels from Belgium that date from 1961.

“I do brew a Belgian Lager that is slightly more malty and keeps Lager drinkers happy while we slowly [introduce] them to other styles.”

She finds many willing takers. “(With the dark beers), you tend to mash longer at a slightly higher temperature. This gives the beer a good mouthfeel and more body,” says Anja.

Veteran Cape mixologist Travis Kuhn says there’s plenty of potential in dark beer cocktails considering their flavour profile and unexplored territory. “They are heavily robust in flavour and offer a myriad of ‘interesting’ flavours driven around bitter chocolate and coffee, which can be used as a unique balancing agent for sweetness other than citrus juices,” says Travis, just voted Most Influential Cocktail Personality in SA on liquor news website Drinksfeed. “More seasoned mixologists will love discovering the complexity dark beers offer to a cocktail, while younger bartenders may not know what to do with it.”

“We’re hardly a barometer of what might be happening elsewhere, especially because people come here who are interested in our experimental edge. But, we’ve found that as drinkers broaden their experience, they move to trying more flavourful beers,” says Eric van Heerden, Triggerfish Brewing.

Ximenez Sherry, some fresh ginger for spice, a date and black walnut bitters, lime and dark rum.”

Travis says dark beers have long been introduced as limited runs. Mainstream traction has suffered by keeping them from becoming “sessionable” drinking beer like lagers.

No-one will deny however that dark beers have allure that can ramp up a cocktail, even for the purists. At Triggerfish, Eric van Heerden serves up the Empowered Plus, a mix of stouts; and the familiar Black & Tan dark-and-light beer blend. At Cause+Effect Cocktail Kitchen in the V&A Waterfront, the “Peppermint Tart” mixes Devil’s Peak Russian Stout with mint pelargonium, gingerbread ice-cream and cacao.

Then there are creations like The Flip, highlighted by Tristan Stephenson in his book, The Curious Bartender (2016, Ryland Peter’s & Small). Combine 10g molasses, 50ml rum and 200ml dark ale. Pour the liquids into a heat-resistant tankard, leaving at least 2,5cm between the surface of the liquid and the lip of the mug. Now the kicker: using gloves, heat a poker. Plunge into the drink and stir. The caramelised sugars will smell amazing.

Grate a sprinkling of nutmeg, serve and remember to bow for the applause.

The category is hamstrung however by most bars’ reliance on traditional, money-spinning lagers and avoidance of wastage caused by pack limitations, he adds. “This is unless we want to mix straight spirits with beers, which use the whole content of the beer for something like a Boilermaker, which combines beer and Bourbon.”

He’s teamed up with partners to open Vicious Virgin, a tiki-style bar. Beer isn’t generally an ingredient in tiki drinks, but Travis is considering a cocktail that will incorporate a dark, heavy imperial stout. “The bitter content of the stout … can balance with a wonderful Pedro

ABOVE: CAUSE EFFECT Cocktail Kitchen & Cape Brandy Bar - Cocktail. Photo by Ruzaan Schechter.

ABOVE LEFT TO RIGHT: South African beer fans have never had it so good. The country’s craft brewers have turned their hands to darker beers – with tasty results.

ABSOLUT-LY UNIQUE

THERE IS NO OTHER FRUIT IN THE WORLD THAT TASTES LIKE PASSIONFRUIT. IT IS SIMULTANEOUSLY SWEET AND SOUR AND UNIQUELY EXOTIC – WHICH IS WHY IT MAKES SUCH A BIG IMPACT IN THE KITCHEN. AUSTRALIANS ARE RENOWNED FOR DRIZZLING THE PULPY SEEDS OVER CRUNCHY, CHEWY MERINGUE PAVLOVAS TO ADD A SPECIAL, TROPICAL TOUCH TO THE DESSERT.

But increasingly it’s beginning to feature behind the bar with mixologists loving the flavour that it can bring to mixed drinks.

Interestingly, the passionfruit (which can also be written passion fruit or passion-fruit – all are correct!) originates from Central and South America. It’s a vine that loves to sprawl and climb and happily produces its globular little fruit most months of the year if the conditions are right. It doesn’t like frost or too much water, or so the gardening and farming sites on the internet report. And it will happily provide fruit for three years if being cultivated as a commercial farm crop or between five to seven years if it’s randomly rambling in the back garden... So why is it called passionfruit? It has nothing to do with evoking amorous feelings: it’s name – passiflora – was given by Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s who thought the beautiful flower the vine produces reminded them of elements of the symbols of Christ’s passion: the nails, hammer (stamen) and the ring or corona which they thought was like a crown of thorns. Some references also allude to the cross-like structure which emerges from the centre of the flower.

Missionaries in Brazil trying to convert locals to Christianity called it flor das cinco chagas or “flower of the five wounds” and used it to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ.

Passiflora Ligularis

As Wikipedia states: Passiflora ligularis, commonly known as the sweet granadilla or grenadia, is a plant species in the genus Passiflora. It is known as granadilla in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru, granadilla común in Guatemala, granadilla de China or parcha dulce in Venezuela and granaditta in Jamaica.

The exotic sweet/sour tangy flavour is well known and loved – even if not everyone appreciates the seeds, but did you know that the ancient Aztecs used them to relax? Apparently passionfruit contains a substance later identified by scientists as passiflorene which is a natural tranquilizer... How about a relaxing cocktail then?

PASSION FOR DAYS 40 ml Absolut Passionfruit 20 ml lime juice 50 ml mango juice Top with tonic water. Build the drink in a wine glass and garnish with a pineapple leaf.

ABSOLUT PASSIONFRUIT MARTINI 40 ml Absolut Passionfruit vodka 20 ml Passionfruit liqueur 30 ml Passionfruit pulp Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of passion fruit.

AVAILABLE END OF MARCH