The WT's Review of the Wide, Wide World of Beer: South Africa

Castle Lager, South Africa, SABMiller
Where: Kloof Street, Cape Town

Castle is the "king" of beers in South Africa. It is the Bud, the Miller, the Coors, all rolled into one - which is not necessarily a good thing (my overseas readers, pray you will be spared from drinking these watered down beers). So I had to try one. The scene was a hip bar, bustling with smartly dressed 20- somethings on Kloof Street in Cape Town. I will eagerly add that South Africa has the most beautiful assortment of women I have ever witnessed. Maybe it's because South Africa was both a home, an exile and a prison for people of so many backgrounds (African, Malay, Indian, European) and the intermixing of the cultures produced some stunningly appealing looking members of the opposite sex. Anyway, oh that's right - I'm supposed to be writing about beer, not women. So...Castle Beer..right. Well, Castle is a beer in the tradition of other mass marketed lagers. It exudes a clear, golden color, is fairly carbonated, slightly bitter and has a certain edge of skunkiness, for which Heineken is a poster child. In short, it's a good beer to drink cold, preferably on a hot day. Oh and visit Cape Town while you're at it.

Windhoek Lager, South Africa, Namibian Breweries
Where: Buchu Bush Camp
I had the pleasure of trying Windhoek at the Buchu Bush Camp, near Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa, right by the De Hoop Nature Preserve. I highly recommend the Buchu Bush Camp and the surrounding area - it was quite a find by Britton. The cabins we stayed in ran completely off wind power. And although we were frequently warned about scorpions and snakes and told to stay on the elevated, slated, wooden paths which led to each log cabin, it was nevertheless a lot of fun (that and being asked to keep my mouth shut about anything insect related as we went to bed). Anyway, the owner of the camp was an ex-SAA (that's South African Airways) executive chef and he made dinner for all the guests. It was tasty yet slightly compartmentalized, consisting of chicken and veggies and a salad, each in their own partitions - actually, it sounds just like an airline meal now that I reflect. He was quite high on Windhoek and I downed a couple to go with my meal. Apparently it is becoming the choice of South Africans, who want to branch out from Castle. Frankly, I didn't taste a huge difference between them. I think Windhoek is a somewhat better lager than Castle - but it has the same mass-produced slightly bitter (less so than Castle IMO), carbonated lager taste. Its color was a little less golden - I would classify it as pale. In short, not a bad choice on a warm evening, as long as it is cold. BTW Namibian Breweries brews all their beers according to the Reinheitsgebot, for any of you beer snobs out there.