Key Takeaways
- •Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela is SA's first Black female brewery owner — her Brewsters Academy trained 13 graduates in 2025
- •Lucy Corne is Africa's first Advanced Cicerone and co-founded the continent's only beer competition
- •Meg McCulloch co-built Jack Black from a market stall to SA's most recognised craft brand
- •Charlene Louw leads BASA, representing an industry worth $5.2 billion to SA's GDP
- •The SA beer industry has historically been male-dominated — these women are changing it structurally, not symbolically
Why This Article Matters
Brewing has always been women's work. For most of human history, across most cultures — including right here in southern Africa — women brewed the beer. Umqombothi, South Africa's oldest beer, is traditionally brewed by women for ceremonies, ancestral rituals, and community gatherings.
The industrialisation of beer in the 19th and 20th centuries changed that. By the time craft brewing arrived in South Africa in the 2000s, the industry was overwhelmingly male — in ownership, in brewing, in writing about it, and in drinking it. The women profiled here didn't just enter that space; they're restructuring it.
This is not a list of "women who also brew." This is a directory of the people who are defining what South African beer becomes next — through education, institution-building, brand-creation, and policy leadership.
Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela
Brewmaster, Founder of Brewsters Craft & Tolokazi
Roodepoort, Johannesburg
Key Credentials
- First Black woman to own a microbrewery in South Africa
- First South African to earn a National Diploma in clear fermented beverages
- First Black African to become a certified IBD (Institute of Brewing & Distilling) trainer
- BSc Microbiology (Wits), Honours Microbiology (UP)
- 8 years at SAB before founding Brewsters Craft in 2015
Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela is, by any measure, the most important figure in the diversification of South African brewing. Her journey from SAB graduate recruit to independent brewery owner wasn't just a career move — it was a structural intervention in an industry that had virtually no Black female representation at ownership level.
Brewsters Craft in Roodepoort provides contract brewing and quality testing, but the real legacy is the Brewsters Academy. In 2025, the academy trained a cohort of 13 graduates — many holding degrees in chemical engineering, biotechnology, and analytical chemistry — with the explicit goal of making Black and female representation the norm, not the exception.
Her brand, Tolokazi (named after her Xhosa clan name), uses indigenous African ingredients: sorghum, rooibos, hibiscus. In June 2026, Tolokazi joined a funding-readiness and venture capital programme with Grindstone Ventures and the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) to support growth, production capacity, and export goals targeting the US and Europe.
In 2025, Soul Barrel × Tolokazi's "Wild African Soul" won Best Beer in Africa at the African Beer Cup — a collaboration that put indigenous ingredient brewing on the continental map.
Lucy Corne
Beer Writer, BJCP Judge, Co-founder of African Beer Cup
Cape Town
Key Credentials
- Africa's first Advanced Cicerone
- Qualified BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) judge
- Co-founder of the African Beer Cup (est. 2019)
- Author of multiple books on South African beer
- Marketing manager & event coordinator, BeerEx Africa
If Apiwe transformed brewing from the inside, Lucy Corne transformed it from the outside — through writing, judging, and institution-building. Her blog, Brewmistress, has been the definitive chronicle of South African craft beer since the early days of the industry.
The African Beer Cup, which she co-founded with Shawn Duthie in 2019, gave Africa its first continental beer competition. By 2026, it was receiving 244 entries from 16 nations. She also runs the Brewmistress South African Beer Awards — the only major SA beer award decided entirely by public vote, which drew nearly 800 voters in 2025.
As Africa's first Advanced Cicerone, Corne holds a credential that fewer than 100 people worldwide possess. She uses this expertise not just for personal authority but to raise the standard of beer evaluation across the continent.
The Brewmistress Awards have become the industry's voice of the people — nearly 800 voters from all nine provinces and six countries participated in 2025.
Meg McCulloch
Co-founder, Jack Black's Brewing Company
Cape Town (originally Vancouver, Canada)
Key Credentials
- Co-founded Jack Black's in 2007 with husband Ross
- Built the brand from Neighbourgoods Market stall to national distribution
- Instrumental in marketing, brand strategy, and inclusivity advocacy
- Sold remaining shares to Heineken in July 2024
Meg McCulloch's story is the origin story of South African craft beer's commercial breakthrough. Arriving from Vancouver in 2007, she and Ross spotted what locals hadn't yet: that South Africa was ready for craft beer. They started by hand-selling at the Neighbourgoods Market in Woodstock — the same neighbourhood that now hosts three of Cape Town's most celebrated breweries.
By 2016, Jack Black had a permanent brewery and taproom in Diep River. The Cape Pale Ale became one of the most recognised craft beers in the country. Meg's contribution was particularly strong in marketing and brand-building — she understood that craft beer needed to be inclusive, not gatekeeping. Under her watch, Jack Black never positioned itself as "beer for beer nerds" but as excellent beer for everyone.
In July 2024, the McCullochs sold their remaining shares to Heineken, ending a 17-year run. They've moved on to non-alcohol projects, but the impact on SA craft beer is permanent.
Jack Black's Cape Pale Ale won Gold at the 2025 SA National Beer Trophy — a legacy that outlasts the founders' direct involvement.
Charlene Louw
CEO, Beer Association of South Africa (BASA)
South Africa
Key Credentials
- CEO of BASA since early 2024
- LLB (University of Pretoria), MBA (Richfield)
- Previous roles: Pikitup, Road Accident Fund, engineering & security firms
- Advocate for excise tax reform and industry inclusivity
Charlene Louw leads the organisation that represents the entire South African beer sector — an industry contributing approximately $5.2 billion to GDP and supporting over 200,000 jobs. As a woman leading a traditionally male-dominated industry body, she brings a perspective that's both strategic and personal.
Her priorities since taking the helm have been clear: fight for predictable excise tax policy (she's called current "out-of-policy" hikes damaging to investment), support SMMEs and township-based micro-entrepreneurs, champion responsible consumption through low- and no-alcohol beer growth, and make inclusion a strategic imperative.
"Inclusion is not charity," Louw has said. "It's a strategic imperative. Increasing the representation of women in the industry brings essential diversity of thought and creativity."
Under her leadership, BASA has positioned the growth of non-alcoholic beer options as a key industry strategy — aligning commercial interests with public health objectives.
The Bigger Picture: Women in Beer Isn't a Niche — It's History
The narrative that "women are entering beer" is backwards. Women were the original brewers. In ancient Mesopotamia, the goddess Ninkasi presided over beer. In medieval Europe, alewives brewed and sold most of the beer consumed. In southern Africa, umqombothi has been brewed by women for centuries — the knowledge passed from grandmother to granddaughter.
What happened in between was industrialisation. When beer became a factory product, women were pushed out. When it became a marketing product, it was marketed at men. When craft beer arrived, it inherited those assumptions.
The women profiled here are not "breaking into" a male space. They're reclaiming a space that was always theirs. Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela uses indigenous ingredients that connect modern craft to pre-colonial brewing tradition. Lucy Corne built the infrastructure (competitions, awards, media) that the entire industry now relies on. Meg McCulloch proved that craft beer could be commercially successful without being exclusionary. Charlene Louw is making inclusion a condition of industry policy, not a nice-to-have.
How You Can Support Women in SA Beer
Buy their beer
Tolokazi beers are available at selected retailers and direct from Brewsters Craft. Seek out beers brewed by women-led operations.
Attend their events
The African Beer Cup, BeerEx Africa, and International Women's Collaboration Brew Day all welcome public participation.
Support education
The Brewsters Academy is actively training the next generation. Share their work. Follow Apiwe's platforms for intake announcements.
Read and share their writing
Follow Brewmistress (brewmistress.co.za) for the most authoritative coverage of SA craft beer. Lucy Corne's books are essential reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the first Black woman to own a craft brewery in South Africa?
Who is Africa's first Advanced Cicerone?
Who co-founded Jack Black's Brewing Company?
Who is the CEO of the Beer Association of South Africa?
What is the Brewsters Academy?
Are there brewing programs specifically for women in South Africa?
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