Wort Hogs was founded in 1995 by Moritz Kallmeyer, and the "guild" started meeting in Pretoria. It has now grown to be the largest club in SA devoted to brewing and many of todays commercial craft brewers have had their grounding in the club. Previous chairmen, Moritz Kallmeyer, Andre be Beer and also other members such as Stephan Meyer, Theo de Beer, Dirk van Tonder and Ruaan van der Berg have moved on to become commercial brewers. They continue to provide input and guidance to new members.
The club meetings consist of information about brewing events, talks by practicing brewers ( these can vary from talks for brewers doing their first brew, to advanced brewing topics such as yeast cleaning and cultivation), and an informal league tasting where members bring their beers for tasting by fellow members. There is a library of brewing books and magazines available for members to borrow and a website that assists people to get in touch with other interested brewers. Wort Hogs has good relationships with suppliers of homebrew equipment and ingredients.
The club is open to all-comers and has three chapters in Gauteng. The Pretoria club meets on even numbered months at the Fringes Pub at the CSIR on the first Wednesday of the month. The Johannesburg meeting is on the first Wednesday on the odd numbered months at Gilroys, and the recently started Wort Hogs East Rand meets on the last Thursday of odd numbered months at Werners Pub and Bistro.
In addition to the monthly meetings, the club hosts 2 annual events, namely the Summer Beer Festival (SBF) in April, and the SA National Homebrewers Competition in November. The summer beer festival is the premier home brewing event of the year. This is only open to members and invited guests. The SA National Homebrewers Competition and the competition held alongside the SBF, are BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) sanctioned competitions where brewers can get their beers judged by BJCP certified judges and other qualified professionals.
The club pioneered the BJCP certification in this country and we now have about 20 BJCP certified judges in the country. The club also encourages members to do the exams and organises study groups of members to sit the exams.
Website: www.worthogbrewers.co.za
For more information contact:
- Email: chairperson@worthogbrewers.co.za
- Ryan Kevin: 082 339 2161
