Caperitif: Forgotten South African aperitif resurfaces
Drinking aperitifs can be a diverting hobby. You’ll learn geography, culture, history, folklore and botany, all in one glass. Take for example, Caperitif, a forgotten aperitif from Swartland, South Africa, north of Capetown. Caperitif just resurfaced almost 100 years after having gone missing. The makers call it a “ghost ingredient,” a spirit that kept showing in cocktail recipes from the early 20th century, particularly in vintage copies of Harry Craddock’s 1930 classic “The Savoy Cocktail Book.” A Danish mixologist queried winemaker Adi Badenhorst, and the modern version of Caperitif was launched in 2015.
Caperitif is a fortified and aromatized wine similar to vermouth, made bitter with cinchona bark, a major ingredient in tonic water. Like its European cousins Lillet and quinquina, it’s a near perfect aperitif — at once deeply fruity and herbal, sweet and bitter but not too, with aromas of citrus, cola and tea. Badenhorst and crew forage a diverse and unusual array of native plants, everything from geraniums, calamus (illegal in the U.S., and omitted from our imported version), African wormwood, and agathosma, to figs, Satsuma mandarins (or naartjies in Afrikaans), cape gooseberries and dates, then steep them with chenin blanc in big gorgeous glass demijohns. The rich tangerine hue and complex flavor derive chiefly from blending these distinctive local botanicals, fruits, herbs, flowers, and what South Africans refer to as fynbos, shrubbery native to the region.
Says Badenhorst, the drink “captures the essence of not only the landscape but also the Cape — (our) sense of adventure, pioneering spirit and deep sense of history. It encompasses all of this, plus of course the vegetation, mainly the healing medicinal plants only found here.” To drink Caperitif is to celebrate the expression of Cape terroir.
In addition, according to Adi’s cousin, Helena Sheridan, who does marketing for the winery, each batch of the aperitif tastes different — the bottles are numbered to identify the lot. “Each batch is different, depending on the seasonality and the combination of fynbos, botanicals, herbs and fruit we play with. Since there is no recipe for the orginal Caperitif, it is an ongoing (very fun) experiment.”
To consume Caperitif at its best, try it on the rocks, garnished perhaps with a twist of orange, or a sprig of fynbos, if you have some lying around. Badenhorst particularly likes it mixed with tonic and recently started making Swaan tonic water infused with the local quinine, lime, cardamom and mint — it’s only available in South Africa at the moment. Combine 1 part gin, 1 part Caperitif, top with your favorite tonic water and toast the Swartland.