She’s following her passion

ONE OF SA’S MASTER DISTILLERS Her ambitious goal is to bring new and exciting spirits to the markets.

Five minutes with Danielle Schoeman of Mahala Botanical Local. She’s a Capetonian and master distiller extraordinaire. Danielle established Dona Distillery in 2019 with the dream to disrupt the industry with custom built vacuum stills – the only ones in Africa at the time – and her ambitious goal is to bring new and exciting spirits to the local and international markets.

Danielle sees herself as an ambitious distiller with a vision.

As it’s such a male-dominated field, what drew you to the spirits industry?

I never think about the industry being male-dominated. Sometimes I struggle with picking up barrels or heavy pipes, but that is why I drive a forklift.

There is no reason not to follow your passion. I was fascinated by the spirit industry because I wanted to understand how the process works from a plant or raw material to a finished product in the bottle.

A lot was self-taught. I also learned from industry experts on the job and local farmers about harvesting and growing local botanicals – and how to drive a tractor.

I learned from winemakers about different yeasts and fermentation; from other distillers,

I learned about the distillation process; and from engineers, about building the stills and programming the equipment.

You won an award for Mahala. How did that come about?

In 2020, Mahala was awarded the prestigious trophy for Best No/Low Alcohol Spirits at the Michelangelo International Awards. Winning the trophy and receiving powerful endorsements validated what I believed about the taste.

When did you realise that alcohol-free was the way to go? Your a-ha moment?

It wasn’t as much a a-ha moment but as an observation and noticing trends towards health and wellness and realising that there were very few premium non-alcoholic options available.

How did you make your idea a reality?

I played around with a lot of different botanicals and distillation methods until I was happy with the taste profile.

I drew inspiration from local fynbos and botanicals that I was familiar with and that I was exposed to growing up.

What’s been the highlight of your distilling journey?

This might sound trivial. But when someone opens a bottle of Mahala or something that I have created – and they enjoy the taste and share it with friends.

What are your plans for the brand?

Our current focus is on successfully launching Mahala locally and internationally and continuing to drive wider brand awareness. In the future, we will look to further expand the Mahala range.

What has been your best decisions?

I was lucky enough to find someone as passionate about the product and industry as I am and who has more experience in certain areas of the business (Paul Scanlon is the former managing director of Pernod Ricard South Africa), which allows me to focus on the things that I do best.

What challenges did you have along the way?

So many, but Covid was a massive setback for us with the alcohol ban in South Africa, we had to change our business model and this allowed me to focus on developing Mahala. Entering into a brand new category is also challenging.

We have to do a lot of education around non-alcoholic beverages and teach the consumer on how to drink a non-alcoholic spirit.

We have addressed this by focusing on the perfect serve and how to mix Mahala to create your favourite non-alcoholic cocktail.