Cape Town breweries shine at African Beer Cup

It was a busy night at the Jack Black Brewery Taproom in Cape Town on Saturday, 24 May, as the who’s who of African beer rolled up to applaud – and raise a glass to – the winners of the 2026 African Beer Cup, the continent’s largest beer competition

And in a night filled with accolades, it was Cape Town’s Woodstock Brewery that walked away with top honours, with its Funky Monk’s Wild Sour Ale named Best Beer in Africa.

The awards night capped off BeerEx Africa, the annual trade expo and conference that brings together professional brewers, homebrewers, suppliers and beer lovers from across the continent for technical talks, tastings, demos and industry networking, with the African Beer Cup awards party closing out the week.

This year’s competition attracted 244 entries from 16 African nations, including first-time entries from Mauritius and Cape Verde. And the competition continued to evolve in 2026, with 10 new categories added to the awards.

“The new categories are mostly taken from the US Brewers Association guidelines. This was to make the competition more comprehensive and to better represent new trends in the industry,” says Lucy Corne, co-founder of the African Beer Cup.

One of the most significant additions was ‘South African hop beer’, a new category, created specifically to recognise beers using 100% South African hops. Other Africa-forward categories include one focused on beers made with traditional African brewing grains such as sorghum and millet.

Winning brews at African Beer Cup

Across the categories, South African breweries made their presence felt.  Alongside the overall Best Beer in Africa title for Funky Monk’s, Woodstock Brewery also took gold in American Wild Ale for the same beer, gold in American IPA for Californicator, gold in Fruit Beer for Sweet Mary Jane, silver in Pale Bitter European Beer for Happy Pills, and silver in Wood Beer for Sugarman.

Soul Barrel Brewing also had a standout year. The Franschhoek brewery’s Live Culture won the BASA African Celebration Award and also took gold in African Speciality Beer, while Soul Barrel picked up further honours for Ale of Origin, East India Pale and Wild African Soul, a collaboration with Tolokazi Brewing.

Among the other major local winners, Afro Caribbean Brewing Company landed nine awards, including gold in Hazy IPA for Superdellic, while Starke Brews emerged as the most-medalled entrant overall with 10 awards across categories including Hazy Pale Ale, American IPA, Specialty IPA and Dark British Beer. Darling Brew, Jack Black’s Brewing Company, Barrington’s Brewery and Richmond Hill Brewing Company also collected multiple medals. 

There was plenty of continental competition too. Ghana’s Heritage Brewing Co took gold in Fruit Flavoured Beers for Tropical Fandango, while Small House Brewery from Zimbabwe won gold in International Lager for Long Neck Lager. Namibia’s Roof of Africa Craft Brewery won gold in Pale Bitter European Beer for Roof Draught, Crafty Dee’s Brewing Company from Tanzania took gold in Dark European Lager, and Specialty Beers Ghana Ltd won gold in Alternative Fermentables Beer for Tale Cocoa.

Other key South African category wins included Darling Brew’s Cape Chameleon, which took gold in Non-Alcoholic Beer; Cape Town Meadery’s Indicator Sweet Mead, gold in Mead; The Valley Brewery’s South Beer Brown Ale, gold in Amber and Brown American Beer; The Franschhoek Beer Co’s La Saison, gold in Strong Belgian Ale; and Afro Caribbean Brewing Company’s Superdellic, gold in Hazy IPA.

Who won the most awards?

Starke Brews came out on top by medal count, with 10 awards across a spread of hop-forward and dark beer categories. Other big winners included Woodstock Brewery, Afro Caribbean Brewing Company and Soul Barrel Brewing.

There’s proper rigour behind awarding those medals too.

Across the 43 categories beers were judged against international style guidelines, with a panel of qualified beer judges and industry experts assessing entries across categories ranging from non-alcoholic beer and mead to IPAs, lagers, sour ales and African speciality beers.

In some categories – such as American Pale Ale, and Pale Malty European Lager – no beers met the grade for a Gold medal, so none were awarded. Judges also spotted a few clear trends in this year’s competition, including a notable rise in entries in the non-alcoholic category, sponsored by the Beer Association of South Africa.

“This echoes global trends towards non-alcohol beers,” says Corne. “We also had a record number of collaboration brews, showcasing the innovation and collaborative spirit of the beer scene.”

And all of this ‘beery’ good news caps off a strong week for local tipple.

South African gin has also been in the spotlight at the World Gin Awards, where local producers picked up a run of country wins and gold medals. It’s just more proof, if any were needed, that Cape brewers and distillers are giving drinkers plenty to raise a toast to.

Thirsty? Take a seat at the best craft beer taprooms in Cape Town

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