Ginger beer tastes like the summer holiday. Whether it’s over the ham or washed down ice-cold until you feel that burning sensation in the back of your throat. It quenches the most feverish of thirsts and I’m not talking about the commercial classic. I’m brewing up a batch of ginger beer and the smell of the yeast and ginger wafting through my home is pure joy.

South African Christmases are hot… wildly hot. So hot that most of our favourite traditions and pastimes over the festive holidays have to do with cooling down.

’Tis the season when large family herds migrate towards the waters. Whether it be to the homes of those blessed with swimming pools or dams or rivers, or descending on some distant relatives who happen to have a place on the coast.

Few are fortunate to have access to the latter. However, there is one South African summer solace available to all. Ginger beer. This fermented phenomenon burns and stings in all the right places, quenching the most feverish of thirsts as it goes down.

And I’m not talking about the commercial classic, beloved Stoney. “Yiba Strong”, for sure… but even Stoney’s “extra kwetsa” super-strong ginger kick has nothing on the one currently brewing in my kitchen… more about that later.

Homemade ginger beer, freshly brewed and served with a couple of plump raisins. Photo: Louzel Lombard Steyn

Making ginger beer is super easy – and very cost-effective. A 10-litre barrel costs less than R50, which explains why it’s such a popular summer choice for most South African households.

“It’s tradition during the festive season,” says Xhosa brewing pro, Ncumisa Dywili. “When there’s a lot of people coming to visit, it’s custom to have everything available for the family. It’s also about saving money. You cannot buy cool drinks every time someone’s thirsty, so it’s best to make ginger beer at home. It’s like a real fizzy drink and a treat for everyone – the old people like it and so do the children,” Ncumisa says.

Especially the children. Often, the hot climate and overzealous yeast would produce alcohol if the ginger beer had stood a day or two too long… It isn’t enough to get you wasted, but there is a definite numbing of the legs.

It’s all fun and games over the holidays when your parents are (ir)responsible, but it nearly made headlines in Cradock one year when my cousin’s Grade 9 Tech Class fermentation experiment went a little, erm, off the rails.

A 14-year-old Wynand Bezuidenhout had all the right intentions. He followed his father’s famous recipe to a T and when it was time for the class to taste the results, the ginger beer was a clear winner amid all the failed salad dressings and moulded yoghurt. But then, strangely, everyone wanted to take a nap.

“I must admit it was a very strong ginger beer,” the now 20-year-old says. “It stood fermenting for a whole weekend before I could bottle it on the Monday,” he recalls. “Thinking back now, our minds might have played games with us. It was more of a sugar rush than anything. The word ‘beer’ just threw everyone into a flat spin. But we had a blast.”

Wynand remembers this story with great fondness. Mostly because his father, the legendary Jan-Hendrik Bezuidenhout – the original maker of the famous Bezuidenhout ginger beer – passed away just a few years later. Jan-Hendrik was a man of great stature. He was a farmer, first and foremost, but he loved making ginger beer and hearing stories of how the people enjoyed it – of how it reminded them of childhood holidays. His laughter sounded like thunder, like a massive tree falling. His passing too was like this in our community.

These days, Jan-Hendrik’s brother Ciske has taken over the family recipe and ginger beer making in town. We still call it “Oom Jan-Hendrik se Gemmerbier”, though. And people still relish every swig.

Oom Jan-Hendrik Bezuidenhout’s famous ginger beer. Since his passing, his brother Ciske has taken over the ginger beer business. Photo: Elanie Lombard

Many South African families have treasured ginger beer recipes. The Lombards make our great-grandfather Oupa Graham’s version with ground ginger, while Ncumisa says her family recipe asks for the “Jamaika Gemmer Solution” from Lennon’s.

I’ve seen versions with grated ginger, pineapple chunks and even whole chunks of ginger root. All of the recipes have one thing in common, however. Raisins.

The role of these little devils is plenty fold. Some people believe they tell you when the ginger beer is ready to drink. When you add the raisins they rise and fall but when the yeast has converted enough of the sugars, the raisins will puff up and float, supposedly.

Others say the raisins are added to supply nutrients for the yeast. The ginger and sugar alone cannot host a very healthy yeast colony without the trace minerals supplied by the raisins. Whatever the case, your ginger beer needs it. They’re also edible (at own risk).

Only the brave would dare to bite into one of those plumped-out raisins. Like a vodka-soaked jelly-baby from the classic varsity punch, the raisins are infused with yeast. And due to their high sugar content, they’re typically the first to produce alcohol through natural fermentation. Biting into a raisin is like knocking back a tequila, neat. Gesondheid!

Simple, cost-effective ingredients make for a delicious drink that stretches right throughout the festivities. Photo: Louzel Lombard Steyn

For this Christmas, I’ve made a small batch of ginger beer in advance… just to get us into the spirit. Like Wynand, I’ve made mine with extra “skop”. The smell of the yeast and ginger wafting in my home is pure joy. I plan to use some of the brew to glaze our Christmas ham, which will be cooked well in advance and sliced cold for the traditional cold lunch. The sugar in the beer makes for a super-glossy and sticky ham rind while the ginger adds that iconic Christmas flavour.

Ginger beer tastes like the Christmas holiday. Whether it’s over the ham or washed down ice cold until you feel that burning sensation in the back of your throat. Aaahh, the kwetsa! It’s the first sip of summer en route from Joburg to Kenton-on-Sea when you stop at your favourite farm stall (just be sure not to open your bottle in the car as it might boil over and leave a sticky, gingery mess). It’s a naughty indulgence of many experimental school kids and also the taste of home when you arrive back on the Platteland to find a 50-litre drum fermenting in your honour.

Cheers to that.

Louzel’s Christmas Ginger Beer

Try our favourite recipe for drinking and glazing the gammon this summer.

10 litres water
7 cups white sugar
3 Tbsp ground ginger
1 heaped Tbsp cream of tartar
1 heaped Tbsp tartaric acid
a few drops lemon essence
1 large handful raisins
20g compressed yeast

Boil the sugar with 2.5 litres water and ginger until the sugar is dissolved. Add the rest of the water and cream of tartar, tartaric acid, raisins and essence. Allow to cool to body temperature, about 36°C. Crumble in the yeast. Leave to stand in a large bucket for 24 hours. Cover the bucket with a “doek”.

Strain the mixture before decanting into clean 2-litre bottles, adding a few raisins to every bottle.

Once the ginger beer has fermented for 24 hours, the mixture is strained to catch all the gritty bits. Be sure to place back some of the raisins! Photo: Louzel Lombard Steyn

Leftovers from the ginger beer concoction. Photo: Louzel Lombard Steyn

The ginger beer will keep for about a week in the fridge. The longer you keep it, the more potent it will get. Take care when opening the bottles as they may explode! DM