South Africa: Apiwe Helps Young Brewers Take Over the Beer World

By Rorisang Modiba

Apiwe is the first black woman in South Africa to own a craft beer company and runs a training school for new brewers.

Her beer brand, Tolokazi, uses African ingredients like rooibos and marula and has won awards for its unique taste.

Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela stands at a brewing table in Johannesburg. She pours a brown liquid into a small tool and checks the sugar level. When she nods, her students cheer.

Apiwe is 41 years old and is known as the first Black woman in South Africa to own a craft beer business. But she is not just making beer - she is helping others learn to do it too.

She started Brewsters Academy to train young Black people, especially women, on how to make beer. Most of her students studied science at university. At the school, they learn the full brewing process, from mixing grains to fermenting.

One of her students, Lerato Banda, says her favourite step is "mashing", when sugar comes out of the grains. "It smells sweet," she says, AP News reported.

Apiwe grew up in Butterworth, a small town in the Eastern Cape. She studied microbiology and started brewing in 2007. She says beer-making is a mix of science, art and business. She wants more Black women to feel welcome in the industry.

Her beer company, Tolokazi, uses African ingredients like rooibos, marula and sorghum. Her top beer, Wild African Soul, mixes the traditional African umqombothi with a Belgian flavour. It has won awards.

Student Lehlohonolo Makhethe says women are just taking back their role. "Women used to brew beer. Now we're taking it back," she says.

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