CarPark John gets his own beer

Yrrr - have you ever seen a happier looking ou? And how can you not be when you find out you've just had a beer named after you! Local legend John Scheeper has been immortalised by the Beer Shack with their new CarPark John Pale Ale.

Shot to local surfer and owner Matt Repton, who says it's brewed in honor of the countless hours that John's put into the surf lineups across the Eastern Cape. Nice one mate!

I asked local brewer Niall Cook a few quick questions about the bru's brew.

So tell us a bit about Car Park.

Car Park John is an American Amber Ale. We were trying to go for a easy drinking beer that has a rich caramel flavour with a burst of tropical aromas, such as passion fruit and guava. We really wanted to make this beer as interesting as possible. Our hope is that Car Park John will help expand the minds of its drinkers (especially PE's locals) to the vast and interesting world of craft beer.  

How does a craft beer differ from a "normal" beer?

Craft beer generally refers to beer that is produced on a much smaller scale than you would see with the big commercial breweries. However, because of the smaller scale there is a lot more room for experimentation and that is why within the craft industry there are many more interesting and unique beers. 

How long does a craft beer take to brew?

When producing any beer the time that it takes to produce it will vary depending on the style of beer that is to be brewed. For example, the fruitier ales such as Car Park John take about 3 to 4 weeks from brew day to serving whereas, the less fruity lager beers take a lot longer, sometimes up to 2 months. 

John having his first sluk with brewer Niall Cook looking on

Could you outline the process briefly?

Beer consists of malted barley, water, hops and yeast. There are other ingredients that can be added for complexity but these four are the most essential. The malted barley is first crushed to release the starches which are then converted to malt sugars (known as wort) with the addition of warm water. The wort is then extracted from the crushed barley and boiled. Hops are added to the boil to impart bitterness as well as flavour and aroma. 

After boiling the wort is rapidly cooled and transferred to a fermentation vessel where your desired yeast is added which converts the malt sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. In our case, the beer is transferred to a secondary fermentation vessel where it is carbonated and matured at cold temperatures. 

The beer we produce is more natural or rather more traditional as we don't need to pasteurise or filter. These processes have the potential to strip some flavour from the beer, something we don't want to compromise on.

Are all the Beer Shacks craft beers made locally in PE?

The only beer produced locally is and sold at the Beershack is Car Park John, the rest are from all around South Africa.

So there you have it - pull into the Beer Shack to sluk some seriously Local is Lekker brew bru. 
The Beer Shack is in the Dolphins Leap centre - right next to Surf Centre, and opposite McArthur Baths/Denvils.

Go give 'em a Like on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BeerShackPE