Raise a glass to the return of gin
The Cape leads the pack with the spirit
As fashions come and go, we always discover that old trends do not quite disappear for long before making a comeback to wow us with renewed verve.
Just a decade or so ago, gin appeared to have seen its best days and was condemned to oblivion as it suddenly disappeared off the shelves – only to be replaced by whiskey in the popularity stakes.
But, in the logic of recycling fashion trends, this status did hold for too long, proving true the aphorism that what goes around, does come around after all. Now it is gin’s turn to laugh last – thanks to the drinking world’s revolving door which has ushered the colourless spirit back. It is top of the pops again with its undying partner-incrime – namely, the tonic.
As gin aficionados will attest, no cocktail sundowner is worth its salt on the horizon without a drop of tonic, which no doubt gives it splendour and character. This combination has pleasured many of the world’s luminaries – notably James Bond and Sir Winston Churchill – yet none so poignantly as veteran actress Phyllis Diller, who mused: “The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron.”
What is gin, we might well ask? Well, gin is defined as a neutral base spirit that has been flavoured with certain plants or botanicals.
To be referred as such, it must have juniper as the main flavouring. Beyond that, some variations of the spirit are known to add other ingredients, such as essence, to give the drink a desired character.
South Africa has not been immune to the current gin euphoria. At least 14 craft distillers have emerged in the country recently – most operating out of Cape Town, which has declared itself ‘the gin capital of South Africa’.
So popular is gin today in Cape Town that one bar – at Asara wine estate – last year replaced most of its whiskey stock with more than 200 gins from all over the world.
Unsurprisingly, premium British gin Bulldog Gin also stepped in to join the party in South Africa for the first time. The Bulldog gets its tenacious grip from its main ingredients – wheat and water – and is triple distilled, then distilled again with a whopping 12 botanicals.
Gin bars are also mushrooming in Cape Town – as have gin festivals in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. In fact Durban hosts its annual gin get-together – Fitch & Leedes Gin and Tonic Festival – at Chris Saunders Park, in Umhlanga this Saturday.
Spirits Business magazine attributes gin’s rise to the surge of craft distilleries, innovation, experimentation with botanicals and repositioning of the spirit as a premium brand.
It quotes international research group Euromonitor as predicting that gin will overtake blended Scotch whiskey in sales by 2020. In South Africa, distillers are reportedly targeting the middle class.
Tapping into the growing taste for gin in Jozi, the Kaya FM Wine & Malt Whisky introduced South Africa’s newly launched gin – ClemenGold Gin – as part of its usual offering of top-end wines and malt spirits at Hyde Park, Joburg, last week.
Show organiser Wade Bales confirmed that South Africa “is experiencing a craft spirits revolution and because gin is the first spirit to get mainstream appeal, we felt it was very much on trend to showcase a selection of local and international gins”.
He attributed the phenomenon to the presence of rich flora and fauna in South Africa, which were available for experimentation with flavours for craft gin distillers.