Building a legacy and starting a tradition in the heart of Cape Town
If you're above the age of 18, it's always gin o'clock. Whether you're meeting a few friends for sundowners after a stressful day, playing silly drinking games on a night out, or picnicking with the family at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden over the weekend, a stiff drink is always a welcomed reward for adulting successfully. I tend to favour my own watermelon slushie cocktail because I can be as heavy handed with the spirit spike as I want. On my food tour of the Mother City, I visited Pienaar & Son with a dedicated drinking chum to get a liquor education from a distiller.
We arrive on a sweltering Wednesday afternoon, stomachs lined with Margharita and Pepperoni slices from my favorite pizza joint in the city. Andre is chatting to a customer at the counter so Stanford takes us through the distillery that makes vodka, gin and matures whiskey.
Steel cylinders stretch themselves up from the floor to the ceiling. Red pins jerk in their temperate gauges. All these and taps, knobs and crankshafts decorate one wall. Pine barrels filled with spirits are stacked up against another.
"People have become very accustomed to glossy tasting rooms," the Son of the Pienaar & Son brand shares when he joins us. "I try model the brand as very relaxed and unpretentious. All the tastings are casual. I don't care for making things look 'pretty' or fake. People are welcome to come in here when there's work in progress, and if we're fixing a pipe, that's what actually happens here. We aren't ashamed of customers seeing what goes into making the product," Andre adds candidly.
The young distiller went into business with his father who boasts a 40 year career in distillation. With a foundation of well made machinery, Andre has been playing with flavour combinations and distilling methods for the past two years. "He (Andre's father) made the stove and I'm the head chef running the restaurant," Andre compares.
Started in 2016 and already winning awards for best vodka in SA, Pieenar & Sons is proof that being sentimental about yesteryears isn't always smart. "I believe that big brands have sold this idea that heritage equals quality, which means they can exclude people from the market." Andre begins, "I find it funny that technology has allowed us to move forward in the world but people will insist that the way we made whiskey 300 years ago is the best way to make whiskey." But the distillery's mantra is to start a tradition as it's never too late to build a brand.
"It's just booze. It happens to be really good booze, but it is just alcohol at the end of the day," Andre explains as we make our way to the main counter. "It's fun, and as distillers we tend to take ourselves a little too seriously," he adds, lining up tasting glasses for myself and my companion.
"I feel like there's no conversation, it's very stiff," the Capetonian shares about tasting experiences he's had in the past; and Pienaar & Son is a great departure from that superficial experience. But that isn't the only thing that sets this distillery apart. Avoiding fynbos as the local gin making market is saturated with that indigenous flavour, "I like the idea of taking local inspiration but that doesn't have to be physical or literal. I've gone with cultural inspiration for the gins; they're both a bit of a shoutout to Cape Town's history," Andre says.
Andre looks comfortable behind the counter. Quick-witted and comical in his conversation, the composer turned distiller is instinctive in preparing the tastings. He announces that we are going to start with the Waskis vodka and I wince. "Everyone has a bad memory of drinking really cheap, really bad vodka and it's the reason they don't touch it anymore, but give this a try," he reassures me. After spending a frantic minute giving the single block of ice in my glass motion sickness, I bravely drain the glass. When it washes down my throat like water, I regret not taking the time to take in the flavours. But I'm so grateful I haven't thrown up on the cork Pienaar & Son sign.
We move onto the gin tasters. "Empire is a shoutout to the British who brought gin to Cape Town," Andre shares, pouring a healthy shot into two glasses. The spirit has a crisp taste, it's incredibly refreshing. "You can drink this all summer," the local brewer explains and I imagine myself sitting by the pool, sipping a gin spritzer with cucumber, ruby grapefruit, mint and blueberries as garnish. When he pours another shot and adds tonic to it, the vision becomes clearer. I can feel the cool breeze hitting my face as the sun hangs over head. I've just taken a dip in the pool and my damp yellow bikini is drizzling onto the tiled floor I'm sitting on.
"Orient is an ode to the spice trade that came through the city; a bit of a Bo-kaap inspired gin," Andre says and I'm ripped from my day dream. We taste the spicy spirit and I immediately pick up cinnamon flavours and star anise. I want to pair it with a honey-charred orange slice or peel to add a tanginess to the complex combination of flavours. "Orient is more of a winter drink," Andre explains and I'm impressed that my palate could pair the flavours with a seasonally appropriate garnish. All the years my friends had to peel me off bar stools has clearly paid off (only joking mom).
It was Jodi Ellen Malpas who said, "alcohol loosens lips and loose lips sink ships." My drinking buddy and I are feeling the effects of the alcohol combined with the heat. We decide to duck out before we embarrass ourselves, though Andre is fully aware of the potency of his own product, and he's too nice a guy to make us feel silly for acting silly. Leaving Andre and Stanford, my comapnion and I agree that we should swing by the pizza joint on our way home.
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The food tour in Cape Town was the ultimate indulgence. It wasn't just food, but I dipped my toes in alcohol tasting. Wade Bales hosted a Methode Cap Classique and Gin Affair that you can read about on Monday.
While you're here, check out my Champagne Sangria recipe and let me know if you'd like more summer cocktail recipes. Comment below.
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