We love beer but not beer pretentiousness. We’re serious about brewing great beer, but don’t take ourselves too seriously. We believe that small, hand-crafted and local beats big, mass-produced and ubiquitous every time.

We only brew small, 200L batches at a time. We have no automation: our beers are hand-made, hand-labelled and hand-bottled.

Wherever possible we use local ingredients from the Swartland.

Our brand reflects our off-the-wall humour and our attitude to life, and beer. Which is the same thing, really.

Garagista literally means garage owner in Italian, one who works from a small garage. In wine and beer making it refers to small producers, hand-crafting unique products packed with passion and personality.

Our name comes from motor racing legend. In the late 1950s small-time British entrepreneurs like Cooper and Lotus announced they would enter Grand Prix Racing. With limited resources but great spirit, creativity and enthusiasm they created cars to take on the might of Ferrari.

Enzo Ferrari, whose cars dominated the circuits and who built all his motors from scratch, famously insulted the Brits as "Garagista! Assembliatore!" meaning that they did little more than assemble their cars in garages. The insult stuck, but the British teams soon dominated racing and rubbed Ferrari’s face in it by referring to themselves as triumphal Garagiste. Today the insult has become a compliment, denoting the underdog who takes on the big boys and wins.

We are proudly Garagista!