South Africa’s Soul Barrel Brewery wins top prize at 2024 African Beer Cup 

SOUTH AFRICA – Soul Barrel Brewery, a microbrewery based in the Cape Winelands, has been crowned the best brewery in Africa at the 2024 African Beer Cup.  

The brewery, known for its barrel-aged beers and those featuring South African ingredients, previously won the top spot in 2022, making it the only brewery to achieve this accolade twice. 

The winning beer, Ale of Origin, is said to embody Soul Barrel’s dedication to using local ingredients and traditional brewing methods.  

The beer is crafted with South African malt and wheat, hops from the Western Cape, water from the Simonsberg mountain, and natural wild yeast.  

“Ale of Origin was brewed according to the world-renowned and fiercely traditional Belgian Lambic methods: raw wheat, aged hops, and spontaneous fermentation. It is the only beer in South Africa brewed in this way,” said Nick Smith, founder and brewmaster of Soul Barrel. 

The winning beer competed against 270 other beers from 16 African countries, judges awarding 62 medals across 32 categories, including the newly introduced African Grains category. 

“In line with many other major competitions, we use the American Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines in our judging process,” said Lucy Corne, competition director and co-founder.  

“This year, to reflect what is happening in craft beer around the continent, we introduced a new category to showcase beers that are using traditional African brewing grains, including sorghum, millet, and fonio.” 

The African Grains category’s winner, Johannesburg-based Swagga Brewery, was awarded the African Celebration Award for their Sorghum Ale.  

This unhopped beer, brewed with 100% South African sorghum, is described as “a modern brewer’s take on the classic sorghum beer, fermented with English Ale yeast.”

Another Soul Barrel beer, Wild African Soul, took the silver medal in this category, while Botswana-based Okavango Craft Brewery won bronze for their Delta Lager, which uses 59 percent millet from northern Botswana. 

“The craft beer industry in Africa is still in its infant stages, and the fact that the African Beer Cup has grown to 16 participating countries with 15 awards going to breweries outside of South Africa is testament to the fact that we can expect a lot of growth in our continent,” said Romina Gaggero-Delicio, African Beer Cup partner and financial manager. 

The competition’s rigorous judging process ensures that only beers of the highest quality are awarded.  

“Winning Best Beer in Africa is one of the most significant accomplishments a brewery can achieve in Africa,” said Nick Smith. 

Charlene Louw, CEO of the Beer Association of South Africa emphasized: “BASA not only values the African Beer Cup as a mark of quality and excellence but also as an annual reminder of the huge potential African beers have when it comes to tourism.” 

NORWAY- The Norwegian Seafood Council has appointed Johnny Håberg as its new seafood envoy to Africa, starting in the summer of 2024.

Johnny is replacing Trond Kostveit, who has been leading the Seafood Council’s initiatives in Central and West Africa since 2016.

This marks Håberg’s return to the Council nearly a decade after he served as the envoy to Brazil from 2010 to 2015.

Previously, Håberg served as Export Director at Salmon Brands until 2017.

Additionally, he has been holding the CEO position at media agency giant OMD/Omnicom Media Group from 2004 to 2010.

Expressing his enthusiasm for the new role, Håberg stated, “I feel very privileged to be able to work to promote some of our most traditional seafood products in Central and West Africa. This is a continent that undoubtedly has a bright future and will offer great opportunities for the Norwegian seafood industry in the years to come.”

Director of global operations at the Norwegian Seafood Council, added, “We are looking forward to benefiting from Johnny’s background and experience, particularly in gathering data and translating it into market insights, and in addressing market access issues.”

 Over the past five years, Norwegian seafood exports to Africa have risen to nearly 2 billion kroner, with the main markets being Egypt, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, and Morocco.

The Norwegian Seafood Council is functioning as a marketing communications organization, collaborating with the Norwegian seafood industry to increase the value of Norwegian seafood in both new and established markets worldwide.

NSC is a public company owned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries, which appoints its board of directors for a two-year period.

NORWAY- The Norwegian Seafood Council has appointed Johnny Håberg as its new seafood envoy to Africa, starting in the summer of 2024.

Johnny is replacing Trond Kostveit, who has been leading the Seafood Council’s initiatives in Central and West Africa since 2016.

This marks Håberg’s return to the Council nearly a decade after he served as the envoy to Brazil from 2010 to 2015.

Previously, Håberg served as Export Director at Salmon Brands until 2017.

Additionally, he has been holding the CEO position at media agency giant OMD/Omnicom Media Group from 2004 to 2010.

Expressing his enthusiasm for the new role, Håberg stated, “I feel very privileged to be able to work to promote some of our most traditional seafood products in Central and West Africa. This is a continent that undoubtedly has a bright future and will offer great opportunities for the Norwegian seafood industry in the years to come.”

Director of global operations at the Norwegian Seafood Council, added, “We are looking forward to benefiting from Johnny’s background and experience, particularly in gathering data and translating it into market insights, and in addressing market access issues.”

 Over the past five years, Norwegian seafood exports to Africa have risen to nearly 2 billion kroner, with the main markets being Egypt, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, and Morocco.

The Norwegian Seafood Council is functioning as a marketing communications organization, collaborating with the Norwegian seafood industry to increase the value of Norwegian seafood in both new and established markets worldwide.

NSC is a public company owned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries, which appoints its board of directors for a two-year period.