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Rui Esteves: in Flux?

South African craft beer entrepreneur Rui Esteves has arrived in Berlin eager to shake up the scene. Andrew Wilkin finds out about his history in beverages and what the Berlin bar scene can learn from Cape Town.
“Berlin’s in a flux, stuck between what it was and what it will become.” Berlin, and more specifically its future, is a well-worn topic, one likely to alternately get blood boiling or eyes rolling amongst Hauptstadt-veterans. However, spoken by Rui Esteves, a South African craft beer entrepreneur and newbie in town, these are words that take on far more potency. Having relocated from Cape Town, Esteves himself is in a personal and professional flux, keen to get himself involved in the truly transitioning German craft beer market.
Strolling through the Kreuzkölln neighbourhood he now calls home, it becomes clear that whilst Esteves is now a champion of craft beers at Brewers and Union, and famed for Weinhaus + Biergarten (previously &Union) in Cape Town, there’s much more to him that that. Bagels! Coffee! Spirits! 2007 marked his start with craft beer, and that industry marks his current push, but let’s not forget that Esteves has cast his entrepreneurial eye over many more drinks than that.
Beginning in bagels
Indeed, whilst Esteves arrives in Berlin with his focus 100% on craft beer, it wasn’t always the water, malt, hops and yeast combo that was his number one. Together with his father Manuel Esteves and friend Brad Armitage, Esteves got his start back in 1999 on the Gold Coast in Durban with a shop focusing on fresh bagels and raw smoothies, and things moved quickly. Ten months in, it was purchased and Esteves made his first big pivot, moving into the corporate world.
It was Unilever that came sniffing. As ever, the suits are in thrall to young talents, and Esteves was one of them. Many months of gravitating between Cape Town and Durban as a consultant finding physical locations to stock their products was what followed, until he finally said: “get lost!” He continues: “consulting with corporates really wasn’t my thing.” If Esteves took one thing from the rat race, it was a site. And he opened a coffee store on it.
Coffee saviour
Vida e Caffè in Cape Town opened up in 2001. Fast-forward to 2006, and there were 8 of them serving up quality coffee in a city sorely lacking good espresso options. Esteves is keen to point out here why he does what he does – “I love getting into new industries, especially ones that are only the way they are because it’s convenient for the big companies to continue what they are doing.” Saving the consumer from bad-quality beverages, and redefining the status quo – it’s a Robin Hood-esque drive that stretches from coffee to his current craft beer mission.
What happened with bagels then happened with coffee, and Esteves offloaded the Vida e Caffè chain in 2006, before beginning his craft beer adventure. It was a big change, but he points out that beer and coffee are much closer bedfellows than you may think. He reels off the points. They are both drunk socially, both are stimulating and the state of both the coffee and beer market in South Africa was at one stage terrible. If there’s one difference he stresses, it’s in the bricks and mortar location coffee makers possess in their coffee shops. They are a “working, living billboard” for your product, with the brand communicated through the service, music and overall vibe, but for beer brewers, it’s different. “Most often there’s restaurants and bar owners between you and the consumer, an extra barrier in between.”
A craft beer champion
So after Esteves got going on his craft beer company Brewers and Union with long-term business partner Brad Armitage in 2007, he then decided to obliterate this pesky barrier. &Union (now Weinhaus + Biergarten) was born in 2009, a craft beer and wine bar that quickly gained a strong rep amongst the fiercely discerning gastronomes of the Mother City. Another anecdote that may please the more patriotic of MIXOLOGY readers – Esteves particularly favours German craft beers, over the Belgian craft beers he originally began brewing. “I just prefer the German way,” he reveals.
Now, with the domestic market well on its way and strong growth in locations as diverse as China and the UK, Esteves has his eye on the German market. Is this what fuelled his decision to relocate? Esteves loves Berlin, that’s for sure. “I love the people and the way people are forced to be entrepreneurial to succeed here,” he proclaims. But it’s not just wanderlust that got Esteves on the plane here – whilst he sees the huge potential in the German market, it’s the challenges that really fire him up. “Yes, the economy here is strong but think about the US, who’ve had economic issues, but craft beer is booming there!” He continues: “It’s a big market, sure, but remember, Germany’s also the home of beer.” With the craft beer market starting to get going, as Esteves says – “the timing was perfect.” Already stocked at Prince Charles’ sister restaurant Parker Bowles and Hopfen Reich, Esteves aims to get distribution of his Bavarian craft beers going in Germany and to continue with the production of new lines.
The extra 10%
The discussion turns to the old and new – more specifically, the Cape Town vs Berlin matchup. And if there’s one gripe Esteves has with the German capital, in comparison to the Mother City, it’s with the service. Any tips for aspiring bartenders here? Go that extra 10%. After all, if the customer leaves happy, they’ll be coming back. It’s a simple equation – greater customer satisfaction equals greater profits, so the Berliner Schnauze really is something that leaves him utterly perplexed. He’s found some favourite wine bars in his short time here though, most notably the Austrian wine purveyors at Cordobar in Mitte. And in Cape Town? &Union predictably gets a mention, but there’s some love shown for bar-bistro The Power & The Glory and the cocktails at the House of Machines.
Dabbling in spirits
Esteves gives us some more nuggets before he departs into the midday Kreuzkölln sun. He’s also dabbled in the spirits, creating organic spirits in Portland and Mezcal in Mexico. The latter has a morbid title, named after the Day of the Dead festival, and achieved some success, being stocked at the acclaimed El Burro in Cape Town. Yet, Esteves has stopped with its production. “It was a hobby, and then it took over too much brain space. Trust me, there wasn’t enough room for that – craft beer is enough!”
Whats next?
A glance over his history in the industry reveals that rather than flux – it’s the 360 degrees pivot that’s more Esteves’ raison d’être. An earth-shaking change is never far away with the born entrepreneur. We conclude our chat. What’s next, after he’s conquered the German craft beer market? Is a bricks and mortar location a’la &Union in the pipeline? “Wait and see”, Esteves grins.

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