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It was a 2018 trip to the United States that convinced Greg Casey, founder of Afro Caribbean Brewing in Cape Town, South Africa, that they needed to brew a stronger IPA. He says he scribbled down a recipe, handed it to his brewer, and said, “Let’s go big.”
A week later, he watched his friend’s son draw a llama wearing a space helmet, “and so the name was born.”
“Back then, this was the biggest IPA brewed in the country at 9.5 percent,” Casey says, “and people really took to it.” It went on to win some notable awards, including gold in the IPA category and overall Best Beer in Africa at the 2021 African Beer Cup 2021.
Afro Caribbean started a decade ago as an offshoot of Casey’s Caribbean-style restaurant in Cape Town. He says the brewery was “more of a fun project with a friend, so we could sell our beers downstairs at the restaurant Banana Jam Café, but it soon expanded.” Yet they’re still small, with a five-hectoliter brewhouse that produces roughly 600 hectoliters (about 500 barrels) per year, chiefly for the Banana Jam’s 24 taps downstairs.
“Our head brewer, Jake Sandenbergh, loves to experiment,” Casey says, “and his passion for perfection makes him one of the best brewers in South Africa. We love sours, big stouts … and, of course, IPAs. We hope you like the beer.”
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 70%
OG: 1.087
FG: 1.020
IBUs: 45+
ABV: 9%