A quick chat with Friar’s Habit Brewery

Friar’s Habit Brewery are three guys who want to create a great brand of beer. Just three guys who have a love of drinking great craft beers while being around even greater friends. They have accepted the challenge to take Friar’s Habit up a notch and turn it into a fully operational brewery. They are very excited with the path they have chosen in 2012 and even more excited to get their beers out to everyone.

Friar’s Habit Brewery is one of the more than 35 breweries who will be selling their brews to beer lovers on the 10th of June 2017 at the Capital Craft Beer Festival at the National Botanical Gardens in Pretoria. I recently had a chat to okes from the brewery. This is what they had to say:

If someone asks what a “Friar’s Habit” is, what do you tell them?

Well, it actually has a double meaning. A “habit” is the name of the traditional hood that Trappist monks (Friars) would wear in the mid 1600s . These Friars were also the brewers of the time and would brew beer in their monastery for the local villages. And of course, they may have picked up a “habit” or two themselves with regards to their love for beer.

But with regards to our beer, a Friar’s Habit is a love and passion for excellent beer. It’s a combination of hard work and the best ingredients brewed together to create real beer of the highest quality. That is the “habit” we strive for.

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You guys have been around for a while. How did it all start and what are your plans for the future?

It all started with a rather random Twitter meet-up at Grafters Tavern in Pretoria East. Louis, our Master Brewer, had been home brewing for a few years and once Jaco and Chris tasted the beer, they were convinced that sharing it with the world was the morally correct thing to do. A friendship that grew out of a brewery. A mutual love of great quality beer, no shortcuts, no substitutions, no exceptions. We want to really show Pretoria what beer can be and to support our local beer community. Our bottles are our next big step and we will be increasing the number of liquor stores where you’ll be able to find them in soon.

How would you describe the taste of your brews?

Wholesome, Real and Full Flavoured.

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What is your favourite quote about beer?

“For a quart of ale is a dish for a king” – William Shakespeare ‘A Winter’s Tale’.

What is your favourite drinking song and why?

Harry Lauder – “A Wee Deoch An Doris”. Apart for a love of all things Scots, it’s a great old song about friendship and sharing a last drink before we meet again. Something we believe in wholeheartedly at Friar’s Habit.

I’d like to thank the folks at Friar’s Habit Brewery for this interview and I wish them all of the best with their future brewing endeavors. Make sure that you sample their brewers at the 2017 edition of Capital Craft.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Interviews category on Running Wolf’s Rant.