Author: adrian@kraft-alchemy.co.za

Well, just a month into us owning a brewery, we where invited to the Bathurst Country Affair which provides a platform to market this historic town in the Eastern Cape. if you looking for some history about the area, have a look at some of the local sites (try https://www.pigandwhistle.co.za to start with) as there is a lot of history (and big pineapples) and incredible urban legends.

A mad rush to get some marketing material together with a week or two to go, we managed (somehow) to get everything together including some artisanal chocolates from ela@sjukla.com for a beer-chocolate pairing combo (sounds weird, but works incredibly well). @thanks the fatter boet!

Day one and we off to go setup our venture at the beer garden at the Pig ‘n Whistle where Gavin welcomes us to his establishment. Our team is exceptional and having done this before, prefer that the two brothers rather step aside while they get to work. Our role in this whole event is to “stay out of the kitchen” and entice visitors to sample our beer.

The three day event was great for several reasons. Our main aim was to get the Kraft Alchemy brand out there and to get a feeling for the environment and the people that frequent such events. We sold some beer, but more importantly we met some great and interesting folk that besides some great discussions gave us a better insight into the craft market vibe.

I got to know my Beer Krew a lot better and spent many hours talking about the past and how we can make the brewery even better – kudo’s to Alert, Milli and Alma for their passion for this little brewery in Port Alfred and without them, we could never achieved what we did. Also special thanks to Gavin and Lucy and their team at the Pig ‘n Whistle for making us feel so welcome and part of this country affair.

I can say that it was a great learning experience and there are some lessons learnt for the future – all I know is that we have a great product that more people need to know about.

There are some great story tellers in these part of the woods (not us – other town folk), so take some time to listen to the locals while sipping on a local Squires Porter, which is incredible in the winter months I would suggest.

Great Times, Great People, Great Beer – what could be better

Bottoms Up.

Adrian

Not even a month into managing the brewery and we have decided to participate in the Bathurst Country Affair which promises to be something quite special and we also want to support local marketing events.

Needless to say, we have no merchandise, marketing material hidden away in the cupboard so it has been a mad rush to get some branding done as well as organise gazebo’s, banners, flags and even some taster paddles for some beer and chocolate pairings.

First event for us, so we will probably cock things up royally! As long as we have enough great beer available, the rest is just going to be school fees. Hopefully everyone who attends will enjoy some local kraft beer and all the other cool stuff which the event has organised.

Hopefully there will be some out-of-town folk at the Bathurst Country Affair as well as the whole town of Port Alfred to support this local initiative. Attendance at these events is crucial to market the area and what is on offer, so be there or be square!

If you want to come have a tipple and get to know the two mad brothers, you will find us in the beer garden at the Pig ‘n Whistle.

Bottoms Up!

Adrian

Well it is all done and dusted.

Ownership of the brewery from Little brewery by the River to Kraft Alchemy was concluded during the month of July 2024 (whoop-whoop). Andre and I are now the proud owners of Port Alfred’s very own little craft brewery – that produces extraordinary craft beer by the way.

We have high aspirations for the brewery and it’s beer and our key focus is on continuing to produce beer which everyone has come to love. We are so happy to have retained the services of our awesome team at the brewery which includes Alma and Melliwe, while our brew masters Bethwell and Alert continue to keep the good stuff coming….

We also just want to give a huge shout-out to Ian who has been most generous with his time before, during and after the deal was done – really appreciate your support Mr. Cook.

Bottoms Up!

Adrian.

Let’s begin shall we – Good Beer, Better Beer!

We are almost done with the paperwork, which will transfer Port Alfred’s own beloved brewery from Ian Cook to the Wood’s brothers (Andre & Adrian). This is exciting … and a little scary … for us, but once done, we hope to take the legacy of the last decade or so and try make it even better.

Hopefully the next post arrives, the Little Brewery by the River will become the Kraft Alchemy Brewhouse.

Bottoms Up!

Adrian.