Put Dutch courage on the menu

South African brandy is the best in the world, and it’s time to bring it out of the bar and into the kitchen for a new take on at-home entertaining

Brandy, a South African cooler box staple, may be one of the least complicated of tipples. Locally it’s known as “brannies” or “Klippies and cola” and for its tendency to lead to bar brawls, but there is more to the amber liquid than Dutch courage.

That phrase originates from the Dutch ships that brought the distilled wine to the shores of Table Bay more than three centuries ago. Since then, brandy has become a firm favourite in South Africa’s bars and homes, but very little is known about its rich history.

The word brandy — also known as brandy wine — comes from the Dutch word brandewijn, which literally translates as “burnt wine” to describe the distillation method the Dutch used to preserve wine when it was carried aboard ships.

Today, South African brandy is officially the best in the world, with Van Ryn having recently won the title of best worldwide brandy at the International Wine and Spirits Competition and Klipdrift Premium being named the world’s best brandy at the World Brandy Awards.

I learn all of this from Danie Pretorius, general manager at the South African Brandy Foundation, as he welcomes guests to the Ginger & Lime cooking studio in Cape Town to launch the Brandy@Home initiative. We are learning how to incorporate brandy into dishes that can be prepared in our kitchens at home.

Chef Denise Levy — who owns Ginger & Lime and hosts its various cooking courses and events — explains how she built the evening’s menu by experimenting with different types of brandies to discover what was possible.

“It was difficult to stop once we got started,” she says. As she and her team learned more about the wide variety of South African brandies, their creative juices in the kitchen couldn’t be stemmed.

“Many people will choose to buy or order an expensive French cognac i nstead of learning about South African brandies, which are better than their French counterparts,” says Pretorius, giving a nod to the outstanding performance of South African brandies on the international stage.

According to Pretorius, the exceptional quality of local brandy is owed to strict leg- islation and traditions that dictate how it is made.

By the time guests are ready to try their hand at the first course — a beetroot-cured salmon with a pink peppercorn and horseradish crème fraiche dressing — we’ve learned just what goes into the production of a fine brandy.

The highest-quality wine (called a base wine; in South Africa, mainly chenin blanc or colombar is used for this purpose) is distilled in copper potstills to be turned into what is called low wine, and then distilled again and aged in oak casks for at least three years — but up to 30 years, in some instances.

The time spent in the oak casks — called maturation — is when the brandy gets its distinct amber colour.

“South African legislation allows for three classes of brandy — 100% potstill brandy; a vintage brandy, which is potstill brandy blended with a mature wine spirit; and blended brandy, where a potstill brandy is blended with an unmatured wine spirit,” explains Pretorius.

He and his colleagues at the brandy foundation — started in 1984 to represent the local industry — have been working hard to change the perceptions of brandy in South Africa.

“We launched the Urban Brandy Campaign to reposition brandy as an accessible and versatile high-quality option to enjoy as part of a fresh cocktail, paired with top chefs’ creations or savoured with an artisanal coffee and chocolate after a meal,” says the foundation’s director, Christelle Reade-Jahn.

And with winter settling in, warming up at home with your favourite local varieties of brandy may be the answer to spicing up dinner parties, she adds. “Brandy@Home showcases how brandy can be part of entertaining at home — from easy-to-mix brandy cocktails infused with fynbos flavours or enriched with fragrant spices to basic recipes that showcase our crafted brandies to perfection.” Reade-Jahn is optimistic that changing perceptions hold the key to a new frontier for brandy in South Africa.

“The future of South African brandy is e x t r e me l y e x c i t i n g . Our brandy masters have proved to be the best in the world a n d we a r e i d e a l l y positioned to continue to drive exports and claim our place among the top spirits producers globally,” she says.