Still Buying
It started out with an ad selling a copper still. Being home brewers of beer and some fruit liqueurs, we couldn’t resist the idea of acquiring a still and adding mampoer to our repertoire. Apart from the fact that it’s a beautiful piece of kit. It was for sale in Mossel Bay and sad to say I had pre-conceived ideas about the town that weren’t exactly flattering. So to be proved wrong was a great surprise!
We found Pieter v/d Walt, the man selling the still, in his brewhouse, Posboom Distillers (www.facebook.com/posboomdistillers) on the old train station. He brews a variety of beer and mampoer and sells shots, bottled in a custom-made ceramic cowboy boot, to bikers at the Buffalo Rally! Home brewers are amongst some of the quirkiest people I’ve come across in the nicest possible way. Pieter sells his beers to various outlets in the area – not from his brewhouse – but if he’s there appears very happy to chat.
Old Buildings and Art
With our still purchased, we decided to do a tour of downtown Mossel Bay. A lot of the old buildings around the harbour have been renovated and converted into coffee bars, restaurants and original shops. The Old Boat Yard was one such building and we stopped for coffee at Sashenka which is also an art gallery. We had great coffee and a sandwich for a ridiculously cheap amount of money and the atmosphere was fab.
There are three other original and funky shops in this stretch and across the road another converted historical building houses the Mariaan Kotze Gallery (www.mariaankotzeart.co.za). Her stuff is really eclectic and fabulous – not everybody’s taste I will guess, but we fell in love with it and ended up buying a very unusual diptych for a ready-made space in the house. I could have bought at least another three items…sigh.
We’ll definitely go back to the harbour and old part of Mossel Bay again to enjoy its rejuvenation and next time, if we don’t get so side-tracked buying up a storm, we’ll be investigating the rest of the town!
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