Lions River Craft Brewery and Beer Garden is owned by lrish born, Ronald Mc Clelland who has had a lifelong love affair with beer. His father, also Ronald, had a homebrew system, and Ronald (Jnr) has travelled the world tasting beers and visiting breweries. He started brewing craft beer as a hobby, using a homemade system, but after locals had tasted it, they demanded that he supply the restaurants and markets around Lions River in the KZN Midlands. ln 2014 Ronald imported a Speidel Braumeister brewery from Germany, and after much research re recipes and hard work re-adapting to the bigger system, he has perfected the techniques and his recipes (mainly German).

With several custom-made additions to the equipment, to streamline the various processes such as cooling and capturing the rainwater for the beer, he has added to the whole culture of "attention to detail". Most recently Ronald imported 2 Speidel Brite tanks, an automated bottling and capping unit and an automated keg washing unit.

Ronald makes 500 litres of craft beer at a time, and has four fermenting units, where the temperature is controlled according to style, and after approximately 13 days, the craft beer is either bottled or kegged, and then matured under controlled temperatures. Each batch is tested for correctness before being marketed.

Opening a Beer Garden has always been a dream of Ronald. With enough nagging from supporters, the beer garden finally opened in May 2018. The Beer Garden is open Thursday to Sunday from 11am to 4:30pm.

On offer:

• Brewery tours
• Craft beer on tap
• Country platters consisting of a selection of fresh Midlands homemade and homegrown pickles, relishes and cheeses, charcuterie (handcrafted cured meats), artisan breads and farm butter
• Beginner brewing days

Want to know more call 033 2344432 (answering service) or email macsas@mweb.co.za.