The origin of the name

From
the earliest times the clip-clop of the local brewery’s dray horses
could be heard echoing down the cobblestone streets of great old brewery
cities such as Burton upon Trent and Munich. Proud of his team of
sturdy shires the Drayman would quietly spur them on, directing them to
the next delivery address.

How did it all start?

In
7th grade I had an encounter with fermenting “mielie beer” brewed by
Filemon, a rural farm worker who was staying with us on the smallholding
where I grew up. I was fascinated by it. Filemon showed me how to malt
maize kernels by sprouting it under Hessian bags, then sun drying and
crushing it. He also taught me how to make a traditional nutritious
drink called “suurpap” (not mageu) which also starts with the
fermentation of maize. Very few rural black people still know how to
brew this drink. My mother spurred on my newfound interest when she
bought me a book written by Anna Olivier, “Maak jou eie wyn tuis”. She
might have since regretted that decision!

During
subsequent school years, I made delightfully tasting fruit wines, which
I aged in the sock drawer of my cupboard! During my 4th year at
university, together with two fellow hostel mates, we bought a beer kit
which was advertised in the Farmers Weekly. This was my early home
brewing years which spanned from 1984 to 1995. During those same years I
followed a career as a Bio-kineticist (exercise rehabilitation
scientist) and had ample time to pursue my passion for beer and brewing.
Eventually I realized that it needed more motivational input for
someone to start exercising than to persuade someone to have a beer! In
1996 after tasting my outstanding home craft brews, Tony Halliday
appointed me as a brewer to the first brewpub in Pretoria, the Firkin.
Being slightly ahead of its time, and being one of the first at making
South African craft beer – the brewpub failed and I decided to take the
plunge and go on my own.

I
started brewing full time in my garage in January 1997 in Villieria,
Pretoria, using converted copper geysers for my brewhouse. Malt was
stored in the spare bedroom and the car was parked permanently outside
the garage! Six months later I moved to our first official premises
which was a cowshed on the original farm in Koedoespoort. In January
2000 with the financial help of my father Hymie Kallmeyer and the other
investors, I bought an old house in the Silverton industrial area and
had it revamped into a fully functional craft brewery. Drayman’s
microbrewery specializes in brewing a range of outstanding craft beers
equivalent to the finest in the world. The beer is distributed
throughout the Gauteng area to upper class restaurants, bars, pubs,
taverns and selected bottle stores. Increasing demand for these fine
beers will see us cautiously expanding the brewery and distribution
network of what has now become a renowned South African Craft Beer.
Since the brewery’s inception, our beers have been enjoying increasing
popularity amongst beer lovers as an alternative to costly imported
styles.

Drayman’s brewery, symbol of purity and craftsmanship

 

It
would have been easy just to recite the historical and the highly
romanticized Reinheitsgebot here – however, using good quality malt,
hops and water does not ensure quality and flavourful beer with no flaws
in the trade. My ultimate goal has always been customer drinking
pleasure. I want to brew the best beer I can, utilizing everything that
traditional brewing and modern science has to offer. It requires a
passionate brewer that has a good palate and a hard working microbrewery
team that is constantly guarding against complacency in the brewery.

Each
Drayman’s microbrewery craft beer is hand-crafted with pride, skill and
dedication. Our brewing process does not utilize pasteurization that
will change delicate flavour profiles, but rather ultra-filtration. The
result is true, all-natural beer, craft-brewed in the finest old world
traditions. A truly great beer has an indefinable quality, reflecting
the brewer’s art and his passion. Such a craft-brewed beer might not
always be entirely predictable nor liked by the regular beer quaffer,
but it makes it exactly suited to the real beer lover who wants his beer
to be a constant source of both mystery and pleasure.

Upon
writing this and being a brewer now for the last seven years, I am
still often frustrated at my inability to improve control of the brewing
process and brew even better beer with lower oxygen count, more
stability, greater clarity, improved balance and better head retention.
The dilemma of the micro brewer is that the cost of modern technology
and process control instrumentation is a luxury most can not afford.

On a quest to establish a craft beer culture in South Africa

South
Africans have a lot to learn from the world’s most jovial drinkers and
their craft beer culture – the Germans. At the first sign of spring the
Bavarians will hold a village festival, which is a service of blessing
in the meadow, with a beer tent erected in an open field. The priest
will thank God for His goodness! The snow has fallen and melted, water
has laughed its way down the mountainside to the lakes and brewery
wells. The valley is sprouting with clean malting barley, and the hop
gardens are dense with vines ready to flower. After the service the
priest and nuns sit down to taste the beer from their flock. Most brew
houses have a crucifix overlooking the kettles and divine thanks set
into the colourful stained-glass windows. In the beer tent the
atmosphere is merry. At every Oompah band chorus of Ein Prosit!, the
entire community raise their mugs with the words “ hopfen und malz, Gott
erhalts” (hops and malt, God preserve them) printed on them, each
containing a litre of beer. By the time the verse resumes, another 1000
litres of beer will have been consumed! An amazing example of true craft
beer culture.