It’s beer as you’ve never seen it before – a whole virtual world of it.
The SAB World of Beer website was recently revamped, and now offers such detailed insight into what this attraction has to offer that it seems to blur the lines between the virtual and the real, the imagined and the tangible. You can almost sense yourself being on the World of Beer tour, almost taste the bitterness of raw hops on your tongue, and almost feel the refreshing effervescence of the final product. Almost.
As you land on the World of Beer home page at www.worldofbeer.co.za, five black-and-white photographs greet you, inviting you to learn more about this incredible attraction – now in its 20th year of existence – and to explore the various experiences it offers. As you hover over each panel, these photographs come to life, showing the contemporary life force behind this heritage. This, after all, is the story of South African Breweries, which has a hundred years on the World of Beer, dating as it does to 1895.
“The World of Beer website needed a facelift,” says new World of Beer managing director Tony Rubin. “It needed to reflect the high standards that our tour and conferencing facilities offer, and to be fresh, engaging and exciting. I think our new site hits this spot-on.”
Flow was happy to assist with the design and development of this wonderful new site.
“We have a long-standing relationship with the World of Beer,” says Flow CEO Tara Turkington, “and it has been a pleasure to be a part of the journey that has established it as one of Johannesburg’s – and South Africa’s – premier tourist destinations. And with good reason too: this is not only the story of beer; it’s a story of South Africa.”
The new website offers insight into the World of Beer’s tour, beer tasting, conferencing facilities, Tap Room and shop.
Speaking of some of the site’s more technical aspects, Flow developer Alex Cowling says, “There are several impressive aspects about the new World of Beer website, but one thing that made me very happy was the fact that every graphic used (except for photography) was produced in SVG (scalable vector graphics) format. SVGs are small file sizes that compress well, can scale to any size without losing clarity and look great on retina displays.
“Everyone did a great job on this project, and really went above and beyond. Now I'm thirsty for a beer – and hungry for a tour.”
Of course, all virtual experiences are really only hors d’oeuvres for the main course: the tour itself. Once you’re done perusing the site, book your tour through Webtickets, or contact the World of Beer so that it can assist you with your beer-tasting interest or conferencing needs.
The World of Beer is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am until 6pm.
