The Beer Route - Let the Journey Take You
$7.81 | £15.53 | €12.41 | | Time: 20:07 |  |
Firkin Hophouse Micro Brewery & Pub
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This brewery is located at the Pavilion Shopping Centre in
the Durban suburb of Westville.
The owner, Louise Esterhuyfe from the Free State Province,
is a
sturdy Afrikaner in his late twenties. His hobby of
brewing beer has resulted in the establishment of a small
but polished brewery,pub and beer garden on the roof of
one
of the largest shopping centres in the province of KwaZulu-
Natal. Louis arrived in the Zulu Kingdom from Cape Town
at
the beginning of the 90’s and started to work for
Firkin
in
1995. Two years later he became his own boss and,
together
with two partners, established a brew-course. Faithful to
the motto; never trust a thin chef; one can see that he
enjoys his beer. Now Louis plans extend to opening
brewery
either on the north coast at the Gateway Shopping Centre,
or at the new Durban Waterfront.
Currently, Louis brews four types of beer monthly, in
copper boilers. Between 3 500-4 000 litres are brewed per
week producing up to 16 000 litres per month.
Eeach brew is named after the quirky characters on the
labels. These names also provide an indication of the
pleasantly different tastes of each of these brews.
Oscar's Hophouse Larger is mild in taste.
Pale Ale is a lighter beer with a malty
taste
and is one third more bitter than the
larger.Bishop's Bitter - the name says it
all.
And for special occasions, St Patrick's
Porter is a
dark beer just like Guinness, but not as ponderous.
The alcohol level of Firkin’s Beer is between 3-5 %
and it
is tenable for between six to eight weeks. Some 30-40 %
of
the
malt is bought from SAB (South African Breweries), with
the
balance obtained from England; whilst the hops come from
George in the Western Cape.
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Due to the mild climate in the Zulu Kingdom climate, The
Firkin Pub is open daily from 09h00 until late, all year
around , and together with the beer garden, can
comfortably
accommodate up to 500 people comfortably. Even the
inscriptions on the toilet doors: Brew Master and
Brew Mistress lend themselves to the brew themeing.
On offer to visitors on the Brew Route is a +/- 15 min.
tour and explanation of the brewing process
plus snacks & beer tasting of all 4 brews (one glass per
person).
Please call +27 (0) 31 265 0154 for prices.
Fax: 031 2650155
headoffice@mitchelland.co.za
http://www.firkin.co.za
Three x 1lt gift boxes of home brewed Australian Beers can
also
be purcased from this brewery.
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