One Of The World’s Best and Most Expensive Gins Now Available In South Africa

Craft cocktails are as popular as ever these days and Monkey 47 is the latest European spirit to launch in select bars across the country for South Africans who appreciate the finer things in life.

A super-premium handcrafted gin, Monkey 47 is named after the rather large number of botanicals that have gone into it, many of them unusual and predominantly regional to the Black Forest area of Germany.

The story of Monkey 47 begins in 1945, when Wing Commander Montgomery “Monty” Collins of the Royal Air Force was posted to the British sector of divided Berlin. Having arrived in Berlin after the end of the war, Commander Collins was greatly affected by the extent of the destruction of the capital and decided to support the reconstruction of Germany in his free time. He became devoted to the rebuilding of the Berlin Zoo, where he met a monkey named Max.

Collins left the Royal Air Force in 1951 and moved to the Northern Black Forest region to pursue his passion for watchmaking. Unfortunately he showed little talent in the field, so instead opened a country guesthouse, naming it “The Wild Monkey” in honour of Max.

With the region known for distilling fruit liqueurs, Collins combined this history with his interest in gin and created Schwarzwald Dry Gin, which became the trademark spirit for the guesthouse until the 1970s.

Almost four decades later, in 2006, this story was rediscovered by Alexander Stein, who just so happened to descend from the traditional Jacobi brandy dynasty. After hearing the story through a friend, Stein fell for the legend of the young Royal Air Force officer with a rich and varied biography. He was excited by the idea of producing a Black Forest gin based on regional ingredients and set about bringing the Monkey back to life.

Although it’s a pricey gin, the sense of place imbued into it with all those botanicals makes it stand out from the London and American dry styles, making it a worthy purchase if you like a good forceful gin.

In celebration of the launch, South African consumers will have the unique opportunity to buy their own custom-made bottle online at Norman Goodfellows on Wednesday, 1 November – 4 weeks and 7 days after launch. Forty-seven limited 500ml Monkey 47 bottles will be on sale for 47 hours. Expected retail price is R499.00 per bottle.