The small craft brewery that is dynamite
Beer courses through the veins of 37-year-old Dale de Klerk and his family.
Dale is our very own craft beer micro-brewery brewmaster. For 20 years Dale, his father and brother made their own brews at home, but in August last year they decided to take it to the next level and TNT Brewery was born. This came after they first attended brewers’ school to lay the foundations.
They started by supplying a friend’s restaurant but are now in the process of also supplying a major retail liquor store group. According to Dale, what sets his beers apart from other craft beers is the fact that he does not over-do the flavouring – he’d rather try to attract the typical beer-lover instead of having outlandish flavours.
It is not called craft beer for nothing – brewing it is akin to a painstaking art. To make a brew can take a whole day since he said he does not want to force things, although he could. It can take up to two weeks to have the beer drink-ready and minute details like a 1° difference in temperature during fermentation can have an undesired effect on the flavour. Dale and his assistant bottle the beers one by one and label them with a rather primitive little machine. He uses both local grains and imports from Europe.
As with wine, whisky and brandy, beer connoisseurs look for undertones, the measure of carbonation, flavours, bitterness, finishes (one of Dale’s beers even has a buttery finish), character, colour and the subtlety of the malts and body, among other criteria. And it is not uncommon for these experts to go as far as specific food pairings.
Currently, Dale produces a lager, pilsener, red pilsener, stout, IPA (indian pale ale) and an ale, but he is experimenting with more exotic flavours, which are currently a secret.
But when is a beer perfect? “I keep records of every batch to compare and see where a change might have improved the beer or lowered the desired effect. A brew is never perfect. The brewmaster will keep on tweaking and fine-tuning it,” said Dale with a twinkle in his eye.
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