The original Luyt Lager Breweries was founded in 1971 in Johannesburg and had within one year of launching captured 14 per cent of the market. But the market dominance of the South African Breweries led to a beer price war resulting in the discontinuation of the Luyt beer brand only five years down the line.
A Legend is Re-Born at Luyt Lager Micro-Brewery
On 30th April 2009 Dr Louis Luyt opened its door to his new Ballito brewery and beer lounge, joining the likes of other KwaZulu Natal microbreweries Nottingham Road Brewery, the Zululand Brewery and the Firkin Brewing Company. It will offer the increasing number of tourists and beer lovers coming to the North Coast with the opening of the new King Shaka Airport an opportunity to, not only taste a premium lager, but also view the brewing process through the lounge’s glass wall.
The recipe stems from the original Luyt Lager of the 1970’s and is brewed by the same master brewer Gordon Den. It is known for its sweeter than average taste and its stylish finish. The target brewing capacity is between 30 and 35 hectolitres.
The Origin of the Microbrewery
In common-sense terms a microbrewery is defined as a small craft brewery “which seeks support of informed beer customers”, or as a beer maker with limited capacity as well as geographical distribution.
The term originated in the United Kingdom in the 1970’s and was used to describe the emerging generation of small breweries focusing on producing cask ale. It has later extended its use to describe not only the size of a brewery, but also its approach and attitude towards the brewing process.
Brewing a Premium Lager
There is no legal definition of the term Premium Lager; it is usually used to describe an all malt product of around 5 per cent alcohol by volume.
Luyt Lager is slow matured. The brewing process starts by converting barley into malt in a process involving steeping, germination, and brewing. When the malt is ready for brewing it gets milled, or crushed, into grist. The grist gets mixed with hot water to break down the starch of the malt and convert the starch into sugar.
This malt mash then goes through a process called sparging, resulting in a sugary liquid called wort that contains the sugars extracted from the malt. The wort is added to the wort kettle where it is boiled and mixed with hops.
The wort mixture is then cooled and moved to the fermentation tanks where yeast is added. After fermentation the beer is filtered to remove any traces of yeast and a stabiliser is added to ensure clarity. Once done the beer is ready to be bottled and enjoyed.
Annika Lindorsson Krugel - Hi, my name is Annika. I am Swedish by birth but have spent most my adult life traveling, working and living in different countries around ...
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