EMERALD VALE BREWERY, Chintsa East Coastline (South Africa)

June 2022

Enjoying lunch on a farm and tasting home brewed beer

While Berto is getting familiar with his new job, us looking for long-term accommodation and finding our way through the suburbs of East London, it was time to just stop and breathe for a couple of hours …

On a Saturday morning, while the sun was shining, we decided to take a break from all the planning and just relax for a while in nature. So, where shall we go? The locals told us about several breweries in the area and specifically of one on a farm that’s about 42km from East London … that sounded like a plan!

We saw an old Bedford truck (but looks like new) that are taking visitors on rides through the farm and to a lookout point. When we visit this farm again (because we will), this is certainly something we would love to do.

The inside of the restaurant is rustic and the heart of this place is obviously the bar where all wonderful ‘beer tapping things’ are happening!

We decided to sit outside on the terrace (but still under a roof), since it was such a nice and sunny day. There is a big grassy area where kids can enjoy jungle gyms, cricket bats and frisbees … definitely a bonus while mom and dad are tasting some great beers!

According to their website, Emerald Vale Brewery was established in April 2012, starting initially with a 50 litre brewing system. It has now been replaced with a 500 litre batch system capable of doing 12,000 litres per month.

We ordered a flight of beers before we made a decision on which beer we would like to enjoy with our meal. The flight of beers consists of Pale, Gold, Amber and Dark. We both liked the Pale and Amber and Berto ordered a glass of the Pale Emerald Vale, while I enjoyed the small glasses of the beer tasting.

The menu consists of breakfast options, light- and speciality meals, steak, burgers, salads, pizzas, something special for the kids and of course dessert. There is easily a taste for everyone! I decided to order the chicken pie & chips, while Berto opted for the Jalapeno burger & chips – both excellent choices.

The good news (for us) is that there are several hiking trails on the farm! We only found that out when we arrived at the farm and would love to come back to walk some of them. There’s a trail run option of 15.2km and then 4 others starting at 4.8km to the longest of 26.5km. These trails are suitable for mountain biking, hiking or running and even some bird watching.

• Update: Three months later, in September, we visited Emerald Vale Brewery again. And this time we went there specifically to enjoy one of the hiking trails. You can read about it here.

We enjoyed our time here at Emerald Vale Brewery – the food is great, the beer even better and the scenery lovely! Next time we will be back with our hiking shoes and a bottle of water to test the hiking trails.