South African Spirits

sundown in the Richtersveld

Very soon after arriving in South Africa, I discovered and pledged my loyalty to Amarula. And I have been pretty faithful. It is my spirit of choice for sundowners on safari, aperitifs before dinner, in front of a fire after dinner ... and just about any other time I am not drinking South African wine. 

Vince has been much more open, playing the field as it were. Here are some of the other spirits he has found that are just as uniquely South African.

the razor wire packaging tells you all you need to know

Mampoer, a white spirit distilled from fermented fruit, is the South African equivalent of moonshine. In the Western Cape it’s commonly known as Witblitz (white lightning), while in the northern provinces it’s called Mampoer. Named for an African chief, it was first distilled on the back of an ox-wagon.

Not nearly as old as the South African hills, it still has a rich history. Nineteenth-century Cape colonists routinely distilled brandy from the bi-products of their wine industry. When Afrikaner pioneers left the Cape and trekked north they lost their access to grapes but not their desire for a strong drink at the end of a long day.

The pioneers experimented with a variety of regionally available fruits and wild berries, and a powerful alcoholic drink (it seldom has an alcohol content of less than 50%) called 'mampoer' was born. In addition to mampoer’s recreational benefits, its ‘medicinal’ qualities were prized.

Keep Out!

Novelist Herman Charles Bosman has forever linked mampoer with the tiny hamlet of Groot Marico in the North West Province, but you’ll find mampoer distilleries to tour from Pretoria to Prieska.

In the Magaliesberg, the Monate Sitruskelder (citrus cellar) makes 23 mampoers. Their flagship mampoer is called Adoons (a colloquial term for a baboon), and you can taste fruit liqueurs, brandy and alcoholic fruit beverages.

In Plettenberg Bay, Nyati Distillery JJJ, based at the Buffalo Hills Private Game Reserve, offers a mampoer called Jack’s Jungle Juice, with a potency-rating (60%) equivalent to a charging nyati (buffalo).

While we haven't visited any of the mampoer distilleries, Vince did have a run-in with a bottle of mampoer in his friend Johann's man cave in Centurion. He lost the battle that night and I'd like to think he learned his lesson but he came home one day with this razor wire wrapped bottle. It is still unopened so that is promising.

Moving on to something a little more refined and far, far less dangerous, Vince discovered Inverroche gin. Inverroche is distilled in Stillbai in the rich Cape Floral Kingdom. Its secret ingredient, fynbos!

Produced in a custom-made copper pot still, Inverroche is wood fired and distilled with dried African and traditional botanicals such as fresh flowers, berries and citrus peels. The subtle perfumed undertones of fynbos produce a lingering organic feel and a soft floral finish. Since we have moved to South Africa, Inverroche has replaced Bombay Sapphire in Vince's martinis. That is saying something!





And then there's South African whisky. Vince has done the research here too. There's Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky. Released in 2009, this is South Africa's first ever single grain whisky, coming from the The James Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington. Bain's Cape Mountain whisky is produced in column stills, matured in first fill bourbon casks for five years and named after the chap who built the first roads in Wellington.

And Gauteng's own Drayman's Single-malt. This is the the first ever single-malt whisky to be produced in the area of Silverton, Pretoria and according to aficionados, it captures the terroir of the Highveld climate.

And then there is Vince's favorite South African whisky, Three Ships 10 Year Old Single Malt. Distilled by Andy Watts at the James Sedgwick distillery in Wellington, it is aged in American oak casks, and offers a palate full of flavour. When he is not drinking his Laphroaig, Bushmill's or Maker's Mark, Vince prefers Three Ships.

South Africa's pure and original cane spirit, Mainstay, is a true legend. Cane spirit, unique to South Africa, is as special to this country as tequila is to Mexico! It was created in the cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal and originally known as 'gavine' or 'mystery liquor'. As the name implies, cane spirit is distilled from fermented molasses, by the continuous column still method. Mainstay, the resultant spirit, is extremely pure and crystal clear. 

Mainstay was launched in KwaZulu-Natal in 1954 and attained national status by 1967. Initially, it was sold in local shebeens to an Indian and black market. From the mid-1960s, a growing number of consumers in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, started taking to cane spirits - especially Mainstay, soon to be the top selling brand in the country. Although its volumes today are not what they were many years ago, it is still one of the biggest and most popular local white spirits.  Mainstay is synonymous with cane and will remain a true legend.

The legal drinking age is 18 in South Africa

And finally there's Zulu Rum, the first local rum produced from the sugar cane in KwaZulu-Natal. The idea for Zulu Rum first occurred to Clinton Wyness when traveling through the rolling hills of KZN which were blanketed in sugar cane. He thought it was strange that the province did not produce its own rum knowing that most other sugar producing areas such as Mauritius, the Caribbean and Australia all had a flourishing rum industry. The same thought occurred to Vince and I as we drove through the endless sugar cane fields on our Battlefields tour to Durban! Glad someone did something about it. Clinton approached a close friend Wayne Oliver who is now his partner. So began the story of Zulu Rum.

I have heard tell of a tequila-like liquor made in the Karoo with a mopane worm in the bottle but I have yet to meet it face to face. Maybe it's better that way.