Karoo Craft Breweries
located within the Simonsvlei Winery
Old Paarl Road (Route 101)
Southern Paarl 7621
Paarl is part of the wine triangle formed with Stellenbosch and Fronschoek but it is also home to Cape Brewing Company (CBC), Karoo Brewing and Berg River Brewery so a formidable town on the craft beer scene, too. Karoo came to my attention early on while in South Africa. In fact, The Jackal was the second craft beer I had on the trip and it not only stood out for me but also piqued my interest in South African craft beer.
Oddly enough, I thought Cape Brewing Company was in Cape Town and I had no idea about Karoo until one of my B&B hosts mentioned that if we were going to the wine region near Franschoek, we’d be very close to Karoo in Paarl. When I mapped our trip from Franschoek to Darling (our next overnight stop), lo and behold, Paarl was right on the way. I noticed Berg River had a restaurant and would have been the logical choice but I knew I couldn’t drive by the home to The Jackal without stopping so made the choice to go there.
tasters at Karoo Brewing with bottles to match
Unfortunately, Karoo does not have food but the amicable brewer/owner more than made up for it. They had small but fair sized sampling glasses and not only all of their regular beers on tap but also one from their single malt/single hop series: Azacca Smash. Even though the tasting glass had a logo, he very nicely pulled the appropriate bottle for each beer out to make for better photos. Now, that’s service!
an impromptu tour of the facilities
After the tastings, he took us in the back to check out the brewery and bottling area and before taking off, we bought a few of our favorites and the rest of the single malt/single hop series beers. Review of the beers below.
Regular beers: The Jackal (on tap) (bottle), The Impala (on tap) (bottle), The Oryx, The Kudu.
Single Malt/Single Hop series: Azacca Smash, Passion Smash, Chinook Smash.
