POLL | Have you brewed your own alcohol?

A debate around homemade booze resurfaced this week when a KwaZulu-Natal man was arrested with more than 127,000 alcohol bottle caps at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport.

Xolani Demistrose Mlaba, 41, was arrested travelling from Beijing, China, and is alleged to have manufactured spirit alcohol in his Umlazi house.

According to a source, Mlaba allegedly offered a police officer a R10,000 bribe for the release of his cargo from the cargo terminal. Instead he was arrested for alleged corruption and possession of illicit goods. and his cargo confiscated.

When police searched his home, they found an alleged “alcohol-manufacturing factory”.

“There were more than 30 20l drums connected by pipes to about 10 barrels. There were a lot of empty bottles from different alcohol brands. The bottles were clean. It was understood alcohol manufacturers would dispose of the bottles and he would seal them with the caps he went to buy in China.

Experts have warned of the dangers of homemade alcohol, saying the use of embalming fluid to increase potency can be life-threatening.

Dangerously high alcohol content, contamination during production and toxic ingredients like methanol and methylated spirits can also lead to poisoning.

Home brewed booze was popular during a national alcohol ban under the Covid-19 lockdown.

It saw a spike in pineapple sales, an ingredient used alongside sugar and yeast in an alcoholic brew.

Google SA reported high levels of search interest for the terms “how to get alcohol” and “homemade alcohol” during the first weeks of the ban.

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