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| Week 12: a visit to Six Dogs Distillery in De Wet |
A
summer of gin discovery.
I
enjoy a G&T so I set out to explore the offerings of our local market and to
learn about the ‘perfect pour’.
NUMBER 11:
Exploring the South African Craft Gin
market
The
handcrafted gin revolution is exciting here in South Africa.
We have visited a
number of distillers, been exposed to the secrets of a good gin and also to the
wonders of infusing botanicals with the traditional juniper berries. This last week of the challenge found us at Six Dogs Distillery and I could smell the fragrance of Lemon Buchu from the hills on the farm, one of the botanicals in their delicate and balanced Karoo offering!
I soon
realized the value of a good quality gin, in this context, cheap can be nasty.
Fred has
set up a gin shelf for me and my collection is growing nicely, I am impressed
with the branding and shapes of the bottles too, from the medicinal simplicity
of Bloedlemoen Gin with artwork by the Cape Town miniaturist Lorraine Loots, to
the edgy Ginologist bottles.
Very
soon I realized that I needed to buy glassware too and the stemless Copa
glasses are perfect with their bulbous base.
So for
a ‘perfect pour’, gin first, then have fun with dressing the gin – peppercorns,
a spritz of salty water, sliver of cucumber, fresh lemon rind, then loads of ice
next to chill the alcohol and only then are you ready for the tonic water. My brand
of choice is Fitch and Leedes, a local business making great mixers. We still need to perfect ice though, the bigger the block and the clearer the ice the better.
My insight, support our local gin makers and mixer business, search out innovation, visit the distilleries, embrace gins steeped with botanicals, do not short cut on quality and lobby restaurants and bars to keep local gins.
Some of the local brands and I have highlighted the ones I have explored:
Western Cape
Hope on Hopkins Gin
Six Dogs Gin
Bloedlemoen Gin
Cruxland Gin
Triple 3 Gin
Wixworth Gin
Woodstock Gin
New Harbour Gin
Amari Gin
Durbanville Gin
Musgrave Gin
New Harbour Gin
Cape Town Gin
Inverroche Gin
Clemengold Gin
Generals Gin
Jorgensen's Gin
Wilderer Gin
Pienaar & Sons Gin
Blossom&Hops
Dutchess (Alcohol free)
Gauteng
Time Anchor
Ginologist Gin
Still33
Free State
De Vry Gin
Zwazulu Natal
031 Gin
