Proudly South African gins are worth celebrating today because it's #WorldGinDay
Trend forecasters would be forgiven for having to take an extra sip of their gin when they realise that gin is not disappearing from the drinks menu anytime soon.
Ten years ago the brand Gin Monkey identified June 9 as #WorldGinDay and has been riding the trend ever since and there are three SA gins that are definitely worth a try.
Cape town Rooibos Red Gin - pic supplied
Rooibos Gin
You'd be hard pressed to find a more Proudly South African Gin than the Cape town Rooibos Red Gin. It has the distinctive Rooibos taste that we all know and love but it's also a sweet, nutty gin. The vibrant red colour means it also looks great in any drinks cabinet. Last year this was voted the best South African Gin in the Contemporary category at the 2017 World Drinks Awards. The Cape Town Rooibos Red Gin is perfect as a sipping gin or with a some cranberry, lime juice or even ginger ale.
Cruxland Gin is award winning - Pics by Bakkes Images
Cruxland Gin
Best known for their other spirits this gin comes from the KWV family and is an award winning spirit.
Earlier this year Cruxland Gin received the Best South African London Dry Gin for Taste in the World Gin Awards and it was well deserved.
Cruxland Gin is the world’s first craft-style gin to be infused with nine exotic signature botanicals and rare Kalahari N’abbas – also known as ‘Kalahari truffles’. It is made using the London Gin production technique, which means all botanicals are distilled together with neutral spirit.
This is a great sipping gin.
A water savvy gin - pic supplied
The Drought Edition Gin
Pienaar & Son has produced two drought editions of their gin varieties Empire and Orient. This is in response to the drought crisis in Cape Town.
Master Distiller Andre Pienaar says: “Gin comes out of the still at 80% alcohol and we usually then add around 200 litres of water, per batch, in order to get the strength of the gin to 43% alcohol. We decided to skip this step and bottle the gin at 80% alcohol as most of our customers drink our gin as a double with tonic.”
He adds: “With the Drought Edition, we recommend that it’s served as just a single measure with tonic – it’s the same amount of flavor and same amount of alcohol as a double, just with less water.”
This gin is great in cocktails but also just as a talking point if you're entertaining friends or family, because of the story behind the gin.