Hops

South Africa grows hops, though along the southern Cape rather than in Cape Town itself. SAB's hop farms lie in the Waboomskraal Valley near George, on the Garden Route roughly 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of the city. There, the bines climb trellises far taller than a house.

Hops are beer's seasoning. The cones—green, pine-cone-shaped clusters from a climbing plant—contain bittering compounds and aromatic oils. They give beer its bitterness, which balances what would otherwise taste cloyingly sweet, and help keep it fresh longer. In Castle Lager, this presence is understated: a gentle bitterness without pronounced fruit notes.

According to SAB, roughly 80 percent of the hops used come from locally bred varieties. The breeding program in George developed cultivars suited to the region's climate and soil. Harvest takes place in the Southern Hemisphere's high summer, long after Europe's hop gardens have been cleared.

Craft brewers favor more aromatic varieties, the kind a fruit-forward IPA demands. Devil's Peak's Kings Blockhouse IPA, named after a watchtower on the mountain, has repeatedly won Best Beer in Show at Cape Town's Festival of Beer.

What does this mean for the glass? A lager from George tastes soft and mild; an IPA from Woodstock, bitter and aromatic. Both beers show just how much the hops matter, even though they amount to only a few grams per liter. To taste the difference yourself, try both back-to-back, with a sip of water in between, paying attention to aroma, bitterness, and finish.