Combating underage drinking with science

This was an initiative by Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela of Brewster’s Craft (Pty) Ltd in association with The South African Breweries’ You Decide programme.

The exhibition, started in 2014, is held annually and is linked to National Science Week (NSW), a countrywide celebration of science organised by the Department of Science and Technology.

“Our objectives with the Brewing Science Exhibition are to showcase brewing as a scientific study, to expose the pupils to career options within the brewing industry and to ensure our industry has a continuous pool of local passionate and qualified brewers, engineers and barley or hop breeders,” Nxusani-Mawela said.

“We also aim to utilise this platform to tackle the burning issues of underage drinking and alcohol abuse amongst the youth.” She added that a total of 520 pupils from eight high schools from within Johannesburg joined them at the SAB World of Learning. “The pupils were taken through a series of presentations and demonstration.

“These aimed to not only highlight the different career options but also illustrate how the current school syllabus is used daily in a brewer’s life. For example starch test, enzymes as biological catalysts, brewer’s yeast as an example of animal cell, fermentation process and examples of other fermented products.

“The presentations were followed by talks on dangers of alcohol abuse and underage drinking, and ended off with a brewery plant tour through the SAB World of Learning 500L brewing and packaging system.”

Nxusani-Mawela said, as organisers of the event, they were grateful to all the schools that participated and to all their sponsors. “We would like to thank SABMiller Corporate Affairs, You Decide Team and SAB World of Learning.

“We are equally grateful to the contribution made by Loxton Lager’s brand owner. It is remarkable to see microbrewers taking an interest in the skills development of our industry.”