Trends Mzansi

Mary Jane is a gin distilled to perfection

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The Gin market has been booming in the past few years and now there’s more gins out there than we can hope to taste in a whole year! Distillers are getting creative and creating all sorts of master gins.

Hand crafted gins are the next best thing globally since uhhhhm.. Since gin.

We tried out Monks Mary Jane gin and it isn't just a gin. It oozes so much verve. Mary Jane is a cannabis infused gin and has taken the local market by storm.

It's casing boasts of a layered design that cleverly marries a contempora­ry, clean and pure look with heritage.

The bottle structure and size make it easy to hold and pour.

A cork stopper and simple tamper seal, all used in hand-finished bottle production.

Nose: starts on orange peels and a kind of smoky hemp influence, really nice. Wild blackberri­es and dried figs. Dulce de leche. Also nice waxy notes. The antique style really, hard to beat.

Mouth: It matches well with the 43% Abv. It’s not underpower­ed and the flavours are nice enough. Very smooth on the palate and the taste is phenomenon.

Finish: medium, with minty / citrusy freshness but also burnt wood, leather and fudge.

A remarkably fine gin that is truly distilled for the inspired.

And what does the distiller say?

How has the journey been for Mary Jane?

It’s been an interestin­g one. We find ourselves including an educationa­l element to every tasting – spreading the word one sip at a time. There is still a lot of misconcept­ion and fear surroundin­g the Cannabis plant and in a country such as ours where laws were created by God fearing conservati­ves, it’s been a delightful opportunit­y to enlighten and allay those fears.

How have consumers embraced this concept

They love it. She’s definitely our best seller and the crowd favourite. She attracts a huge amount of interest from people from all walks of life, in particular, over 50s conservati­ves who are opening their minds to the value of Hemp and realizing that the very old fashioned laws and mind numbing conditioni­ng that they grew up with are no longer relevant.

Is Mary Jane available nationwide and where can people buy this gin?

You can find Mary Jane in over 300 liquor stores nation-wide and this is growing daily. We try and update our store

locator on our website as often as possible but anyone looking for where to purchase in their neighbourh­ood is welcome to contact us via our website or on Facebook and we will do our best to point them in the right direction.

Having broken new ground with this sensationa­l gin, what does the future hold for Monks gin?

We’re starting to export which is very exciting. We’re already shipping to Germany and Mauritius and Australia and Switzerlan­d are next. We’re also making headway into Canada and the USA so the future is bright.

Do you think you have ticked all the right boxes into becoming a household brand?

We definitely feel that we’ve ticked the right boxes. We have three totally different flavour profile gins so our appeal is broad. Our packaging is beautiful, making it a great gift and our pricing is competitiv­e in the hand crafted premium spirits sector.

What has the general feedback been for Mary Jane?

Generally very positive. We have only ever had one person refuse to try it when we were the Gin Box gin of the month. She returned her box in outrage so we replaced it with a Medella which I am sure she enjoyed immensely.

Are there any health benefits in this gin?

There are dozens of health benefits to hemp but it would be remiss of us to say that there are health benefits to drinking in any form. All alcohol should be enjoyed in moderation. If it contains ingredient­s that could be healthy and delicious at the same time, all the better.

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