About Mitchells Brewery

Mitchell’s Knysna Brewery was established in 1983 by Lex Mitchell

Lager is the term used in English to describe bottom-fermented beers

Bitter is a generic term for highly hopped ales. Light to medium brown

Ale:Top fermented or warm fermented beer. Colours vary from pale to dark

Stout: Top fermented, classic ale, usually very dark, well hopped, bitter and strong

Pilsner: Clear, bottom fermented beer . Today a term used often to describe a lager. pale to light gold.

Mitchell’s Knysna Brewery was established in 1983 by Lex Mitchell in a small building in the Knysna town center. In 1985 we moved to the Knysna Industrial Area and had the space to add Bosun’s Bitter to the Forester’s Draught which had been our only beer produced to date.We have since added various other ales to our repertoire, some on a special basis, and some which have come to stay – Raven Stout, and Ninety Shilling Ale. Our Ales are unpasteurised, live ales, produced locally in Knysna. Mitchell’s beers are produced using the finest available ingredients and a carefully selected amalgam of British mashing and German lagering techniques to produce ales uniquely suited to South African conditions.

The carbonation, or conditioning is naturally achieved through lengthy secondary fermentation which is so much part of the character of the best traditional and Continental draught ales and beers. Initially Mitchell's Knysna Brewery only supplied the Garden Route in the Western Cape and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.In September 1989 Mitchell's Knysna Brewery felt confident enough to spread its wings and opened another brewery in Cape Town, Mitchell's Waterfront Brewery. Shortly thereafter, the Mitchell's Johannesburg Brewery come into existence.Things went well for the Mitchell's Group, and in May 1998, Scottish and Newcastle, one of the biggest International Brewery Groups, acquired the three Mitchell's Breweries. The Mitchell's Saga continued when Johannesburg Brewery closed their doors and a consortium of South African Businessmen, bought back the two Breweries from Scottish & Newcastle in April 2002. Four months later in August 2002, the Mitchell's Waterfront Brewery and Mitchell's Knysna Brewery broke ties and become independent business with separate owners and distribution areas. Away and completely independent from The Group, Mitchell's Knysna Brewery is flourishing and we are looking forward to many prosperous years. We welcome and invite all to browse our website and to visit us at the Brewery in beautiful Knysna, South Africa.

Also see TOURS AND TASTING

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