A beer pioneer, South Africa’s first Black female brewery owner trains a new generation

By Michelle Gumede

After pouring brown, gritty liquid from a huge silver tank into a flute-like container known as a refractometer, South African beer brewing master Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela gives an expert nod of approval and passes it around to her students, who yell their observations with glee.

“When you are brewing you must constantly check your mixture,” Nxusani-Mawela instructs them.

“We are looking for a balance between the sugar and the grains.”

The 41-year-old Nxusani-Mawela is an international beer judge and taster, and is believed to be the first Black woman in South Africa to own a craft brewery, a breakthrough in a world largely dominated by men and big corporations. Her desire is to open South Africa’s multibillion-dollar beer-brewing industry to more Black people and more women.

At her microbrewery in Johannesburg, she’s teaching 13 young Black graduates — most of them women — the art of beer making.