aka.Goliath
Race Dog
I have decided to start visiting every brewery in South Africa obviously doing it on a bike and so I decided to start with Clarens Brewery (and any others I found along the way)
The trip to the Clarens Brewery was an interesting and new experience for me. I left Smith Field in the southern Free State where I had spent christmas with the family. A few days before new years I left on a solo mission on my last trip with this particular bike my BMW R1200GS. Kitted up and ready I left as early as possible and hit the road due west to Batulie, headed on some fantastic gravel roads and twee-spoor to Burgersdorp then to Malteno. It's amazing what awesome sights and people you find when you get off the beaten track. I stopped to take a picture of a farmers dog and ended up having a wonderful conversation with the farmer - albeit a broken English/Afrikaans one - His perplexed look on his face when I told him that I had come down his lonely farm track just so I could take the long way around really made me smile to myself and so I left it at that. Shortly after that I came across and whole set (around 40) wind turbines perched along the top of the pass I was about to descend something I never knew existed.
I spent the night on a farm outside Sterkstroom and headed to Rhodes the next day. The weather rolled in that night and made most of the dirt roads impossible to ride at anything above 30kmph. The first 20km of that day made for a lot of interesting facial expressions while sliding from one side of the road to the other. After 80 odd km of dirt I head on the tar pass to Barkley East via Eliot then on to Rhodes making it in with just the last 10km in the rain which I seemed to have chased the whole day.
After a warming cup of coffee at the info office I went up to investigate my accommodation and find the 'local' brewer who was meant to have a small brewery going just for local consumption. After a fruitless exercise I ended up having dinner and drinks at the pub and inn, Walkabouts. It transpired later that the proprietor of the brewery had gone on holiday so there was nowhere to have one of these brews. The rain continued for another day after my arrival bring some amazing amounts of hail I have ever seen and so I decided to stay on an extra night. So after spending new years in Rhodes myself and three other guys whom I had arrived from Lesotho on their BMW's left to take on Naudes Nek and further. We woke to clear blue skies and dry ground. It promised to be a fantastic day in the saddle. Once we reached Matatiele we split as I had to still reach Clarens by the afternoon. I took all the gravel roads I could to Underburg for lunch and then on up the Loteni road soon passing Burgville and to Clarens. Chasing many storms and menacing looking clouds the whole way. The roads through this area can vary a lot from bad rocky, pot-hole ridden roads to fast a flowing smooth gravel. I made good time and after 10 hours of riding I made it to Clarens. With that I checked in to a nice self-catering unit and headed for the town square. The brewery had closed by the time I managed to get into a presentable state but promised to open for taters by 10.00 the next morning. I spent the rest of the night at one of the pubs for dinner and some drinks. The next morning was spent wondering around this wonderful town while waiting to have my chance to sample what the Clarens Brewery has to offer. I spent some time at the brewery asking a lot of questions which most had some interesting answers to. The staff were very attentive and were happy to take on my seemingly unusual early morning exuberance about beer (and ciders I might add).
The town lends itself to have a fantastic brewery on its doorstep. Having very good spring water, arguably the most important part of a good brew, right under their feet is definitely part of that. The brewery itself has been open for 8 years and now and offers more than some well crafted beer but some unusual ciders to. What really grabbed my attention was the pineapple cider, fresh crisp notes with a rich fruity aroma and taste makes it a great all-round summer drink. All their beers are filtered besides the one Weiss. My favourite beer must have been the English Ale, then again I am a sucker for my English ales with their rich and smooth body with notes of caramel. Another highlight was the 1912 APA with distinct hoppy flavours and a fresh citrus edge. I could go on.. the truth is there was not much I didn't like about any of their brews. One thing to note is that they do not sell to any outlets so you can only get their beers from Clarens
After some shopping and stashing of beers in luggage it was time to slab it home back to Johannesburg dodging even more storms along the way.
The trip to the Clarens Brewery was an interesting and new experience for me. I left Smith Field in the southern Free State where I had spent christmas with the family. A few days before new years I left on a solo mission on my last trip with this particular bike my BMW R1200GS. Kitted up and ready I left as early as possible and hit the road due west to Batulie, headed on some fantastic gravel roads and twee-spoor to Burgersdorp then to Malteno. It's amazing what awesome sights and people you find when you get off the beaten track. I stopped to take a picture of a farmers dog and ended up having a wonderful conversation with the farmer - albeit a broken English/Afrikaans one - His perplexed look on his face when I told him that I had come down his lonely farm track just so I could take the long way around really made me smile to myself and so I left it at that. Shortly after that I came across and whole set (around 40) wind turbines perched along the top of the pass I was about to descend something I never knew existed.
I spent the night on a farm outside Sterkstroom and headed to Rhodes the next day. The weather rolled in that night and made most of the dirt roads impossible to ride at anything above 30kmph. The first 20km of that day made for a lot of interesting facial expressions while sliding from one side of the road to the other. After 80 odd km of dirt I head on the tar pass to Barkley East via Eliot then on to Rhodes making it in with just the last 10km in the rain which I seemed to have chased the whole day.
After a warming cup of coffee at the info office I went up to investigate my accommodation and find the 'local' brewer who was meant to have a small brewery going just for local consumption. After a fruitless exercise I ended up having dinner and drinks at the pub and inn, Walkabouts. It transpired later that the proprietor of the brewery had gone on holiday so there was nowhere to have one of these brews. The rain continued for another day after my arrival bring some amazing amounts of hail I have ever seen and so I decided to stay on an extra night. So after spending new years in Rhodes myself and three other guys whom I had arrived from Lesotho on their BMW's left to take on Naudes Nek and further. We woke to clear blue skies and dry ground. It promised to be a fantastic day in the saddle. Once we reached Matatiele we split as I had to still reach Clarens by the afternoon. I took all the gravel roads I could to Underburg for lunch and then on up the Loteni road soon passing Burgville and to Clarens. Chasing many storms and menacing looking clouds the whole way. The roads through this area can vary a lot from bad rocky, pot-hole ridden roads to fast a flowing smooth gravel. I made good time and after 10 hours of riding I made it to Clarens. With that I checked in to a nice self-catering unit and headed for the town square. The brewery had closed by the time I managed to get into a presentable state but promised to open for taters by 10.00 the next morning. I spent the rest of the night at one of the pubs for dinner and some drinks. The next morning was spent wondering around this wonderful town while waiting to have my chance to sample what the Clarens Brewery has to offer. I spent some time at the brewery asking a lot of questions which most had some interesting answers to. The staff were very attentive and were happy to take on my seemingly unusual early morning exuberance about beer (and ciders I might add).
The town lends itself to have a fantastic brewery on its doorstep. Having very good spring water, arguably the most important part of a good brew, right under their feet is definitely part of that. The brewery itself has been open for 8 years and now and offers more than some well crafted beer but some unusual ciders to. What really grabbed my attention was the pineapple cider, fresh crisp notes with a rich fruity aroma and taste makes it a great all-round summer drink. All their beers are filtered besides the one Weiss. My favourite beer must have been the English Ale, then again I am a sucker for my English ales with their rich and smooth body with notes of caramel. Another highlight was the 1912 APA with distinct hoppy flavours and a fresh citrus edge. I could go on.. the truth is there was not much I didn't like about any of their brews. One thing to note is that they do not sell to any outlets so you can only get their beers from Clarens
After some shopping and stashing of beers in luggage it was time to slab it home back to Johannesburg dodging even more storms along the way.
