Hailing from the Netherlands, Black Tomato gin is something rather different.

Gin has come a long way since it first appeared as genever in the mid-1500s. François De le Boë (sometimes known Franciscus Sylvius), a Dutch doctor looking to cure the tropical maladies suffered by Holland’s traders, is generally credited with spreading genever’s popularity.

Summer evenings beckon and Brockmans Gin, the gin like no other, is responding with four new summer cocktails that offer a contemporary twist on some of the summer’s most classic drinks.

Gordon’s Gin has unveiled two new products catered to lovers of a G&T. These G&T’s, however, are for people who just want the taste of a gin and tonic without the alcohol. Well, a little bit of alcohol, we’re taking 0.5 percent.

When you think Martini, you think class, sophistication and high society garnished with a couple of olives.

“Here we have a Canadian walking into an English bar to talk about American gin…”

ON FEBRUARY 14, 1929, AROUND 10:30 a.m., Clark Street in Chicago was rattled by gunfire. The city’s most powerful gang leader, Al “Scarface” Capone, had finally sent some hit men after a rival gang. When the shots subsided, seven people were dead. It was, the Chicago Tribune later put it, “the most infamous of all gangland slayings in America.”

Black Tomato Gin is the world’s first gin made from black tomatoes. Born in Bruinisse, a small fisherman village in the Netherlands, this gin was conceived by master distiller Meindert Kampen. It uses small drops of fresh salt water and homegrown black tomatoes to create an intense gin of “rich, sweet and dynamic flavour.”

Brockmans unique recipe of naturally grown aromatic botanicals are steeped in pure grain spirit for many hours to release their natural oils and aromas.

This classic from the pages for the Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 is creaming to be allowed back on all cafe menus in and around the Cape. Simple, refreshing and slightly familiar, The Cape Cocktail is the perfect brunch companion.