Glorious gin experiences in and around Cape Town for all budgets

The craft gin revolution has now exploded with over 50 distilleries in South Africa and new places are opening almost monthly where you can taste gins or just sit back and enjoy a gin cocktail.

The earliest confirmed recording of the commercial production of gin was in Holland in the 17th century, where it was produced as a medicine to treat a number of maladies. To make it more palatable, they began to infuse the alcohol with juniper, which had some medicinal properties of its own. Cheers to the Dutch I say!

Here are 13 gin-tastic spots that I found in and around Cape Town that come highly recommended.

1. Hope on Hopkins Distillery, Salt River

Contact: Tel 0214471950, hopeonhopkins.co.za
Photo by Rachel Robinson

When I arrived at Hope on Hopkins on a Saturday afternoon to try their handcrafted gins, someone asked if they could have a pre-drink while waiting for the rest of their party to arrive, to which the answer was, ‘You can do whatever you want to’. This pretty much sums up the relaxed and fun atmosphere at this distillery, which was the first distillery in Cape Town (also why they are first on this list).

Sit at either one of their long tables, at the bar or cosy up in the corner on the couch and enjoy a tasting of either three or four gins, which arrive in tiny medicine-style bottles, served with tonic. There’s a handy booklet with a tasting guide and information on each of their gins, but the waitrons are only too happy to answer any questions. While you are there you can expect a sniffing over from Mr Scruff, their resident rescue dog. If you are really lucky you may get to meet their distillery cats, Martini and Mimo too. Before you leave, make sure you take home one of their Gin Popsicles (R30), made with Hope gin (at 7% alcohol they’re not advisable for children).

Photo by Rachel Robinson

Gin-tastings are held on Saturdays between 12:00 and 17:00 with a three gin-tasting at R120 per person and four gin-tasting at R150 per person. They also host a Gin Experience on the first Wednesday evening of every month where you can enjoy a guided experience with the distillers and taste four handcrafted gins accompanied by small bites at R250 per person. Bookings are recommended for the Saturday tasting and essential for the gin experience.

2. Deep South Distillery, Kommetjie

Contact: Tel 0217830129, deepsouthdistillery.co.za

Photo by Rachel Robinson

A gin-tasting at this small distillery in an industrial park in Kommetjie is one-third knowledge, one-third alcohol and one-third fun! Open since mid-December 2017, Steve Erlank and James Copeland are hoping to make the world a better place one drink at a time. Steve will happily take you on a distillery tour where you will meet Tiny, Whiny and Shiny, watch bottles being hand-labelled, along with learning about the distillation process. This is followed by a tasting of their two gins, being the Cape Dry Gin (London dry style gin infused with Cape botanicals, including mountain fynbos and Honeybush) and the ‘unashamedly floral’ Ruby Gin, which was originally developed as a Christmas gin. You are given total permission to play with your gins, so expect to add orange peel, thyme, strawberries and rosemary (to name a few) to your glass.


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