SUIP!

I spent this past fortnight in my hometown of Durban unwinding, recharging and catching up with friends after a long and difficult past few months. While I was there I decided to revisit a few beers I used to enjoy at home before I moved down to Cape Town, mostly just to see if my good memories of them still held up now.

Shongweni Brewery’s Robson’s East Coast Ale was a beer I used to drink often on holiday, so it was one of the beers I picked up from my local bottle store on my way home from buying ingredients for the fifteen bunny chows I decided to make for my mates last week. (For non-Durbanite readers, you might need to know that a bunny chow is a quarter- or half-loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with curry. They’re bliss. And I made vegetable masala bunnies – the obvious choice, really.)

The East Coast Ale’s golden tones and connection to the place I grew up in – in name and Shongweni Brewery’s proximity to it – taps into the rich vein of feeling I imagine most people have for their hometowns. I hadn’t had it for quite a long time, but I remember it being sweet, foamy, soft and utterly drinkable.

But retrospection is often rose-tinted. Despite my fond memories of it, Robson’s East Coast Ale turned out to not be one of Shongweni’s best. Don’t get me wrong: it’s probably above average compared to most South African micros, but I’ve had better things from both Shongweni Brewery and others since I last tried the ECA.

The ECA is a blond ale made with Brewers Gold and Challenger hops, and pours yellow-orange with a quickly-dissipating, finger-thick white head. With the unusual promise of soft yellow fruits on the nose – mango and pear especially – what follows is surprisingly unnuanced: a little thin maltiness, a slight sweetness and just the tiniest bitter pinch (Shongweni Brewery rates ECA at 25 IBU). Its thin carbonation and soft mouth feel make it drinkable but unfortunately it’s not the most satisfying beer, especially when compared to Robson’s West Coast Ale and Durban Pale Ale.

That said, it goes down well with a bunny and, with a light body and 4% a.b.v., it’s certainly sessionable, if you’re that way inclined.

Shongweni Brewery say that “the people of [the East Coast] are exciting, diverse and full of energy and optimism. We wanted to capture this spirit of the East Coast in our beer and we think we have.” But with a lack of any praise-worthy nuances, maybe the East Coast Ale doesn’t speak so well for my childhood home – especially when the West Coast Ale is an almost universally celebrated beer – but maybe it isn’t meant to be the cosmopolitan option. Golden and easy-going is what best defines the East Coast anyway.

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Robson’s East Coast Ale, 550ml bottle, 4% a.b.v.

Pros: Gorgeously golden; easy-drinking; very good with heavy food.

Cons: Unnuanced.