This new festival was held last Friday night between 5 and 8 pm and was well attended. There are so many new craft beers, gins, vodkas, even Rum, Whisky and Brandies being made in the Cape. Mike Bampfield Duggan decided it was time for us to sample some of them. We were delighted to be invited, but worried about tasting lots of alcohols. Uber was very popular indeed that evening. We decided just to sample beers and Lynne did one very interesting rum, she is not good with high tack after beer. We hope to taste them one at a time in the future. It was a lot of fun; these crafters are very committed to their products
A brewery that has taken the Cape by storm is the
CBC Brewery at Spice Route in Paarl, and run by Paulaner-trained German
brewmaster Wolfgang Koedel - we especially like its Imperial IPA
A novel name for a Cape Gin: A Mari Atlantic
Ocean and Indian Ocean Gins. We like the label and the bottle very much.
Hope to taste soon
From Boplaas in Calitzdorp, a Cape Gin, A Cape
Pink Gin, A Craft Whisky and an 8 Year old Potstill Brandy made by Carel and
Margaux Nel
A close up of the bottles
From Cederberg Winery, Boggom Beers: a light and
well flavoured Lager, a biscuity and citrus zing Blonde Ale which Lynne really
enjoyed, and an IPA with granadilla notes, nicely fruity and not too bitter. We
know it's good with food, we have ordered it in restaurants
The winemaker having fun on the Cederberg stand
James Copeland was showing his Copeland Rum which
is selling well. Lynne found creamy toffee and pineapple on the rum with notes
of licorice, salt, chocolate and fennel leaves
He made us a great sour
cocktail with rum, sugar syrup, fresh lime juice - what a difference that makes
- coconut water and not too much ice. Absolutely superb
The lads from KCB, Karoo Craft Beers, which is
actually made in Paarl. We liked these very much, they are real beers, with
nothing added, skilfully made
Lynne really enjoyed tasting the Kudu Lager and
the Jackal Indian Pale Ale
Our friends Carol and Roddy Mills. Carol makes the
Kaapse Liqueurs and we really like her new packaging. Her Limoncello has always
been authentic
There were quite a few interesting sounding mixers
on show, and several new tonics. Nicole Kuhnert showed the Pura range, which has Soda Cucumber Lime, Soda Seville
Orange, a Soda Cranberry, Soda Lemon Elderflower and Soda Pomegranate, all to
add flavour and length to your alcohol of choice
Mark McCarthy of Inverroche Gin giving Carol a taste of
one of the three gins. They also have a Ltd Edition Blackstrap Rum and a Ltd
Edition Botanique Liqueur
Another of our favourites: Devils Peak Brewery - their King's Blockhouse IPA is one of Lynne's best beers
And young Jonathan Gilloway was punting The Italian Job,
who showed four of their five Le Grande Cinque Italian sounding beers: Famiglia Pilsner, Forza IPA, Amore Amber
Ale, & Amicizia Weiss. The Forza was a bit cloudy but enjoyable. They are made by an Italian family from Cape Town
The Woodstock Brewery has beers with slightly
louche names, Happy Pills, Hazy Daze Belgian Witbier, Pot Belge Belgian Amber,
Californicator IPA, Rhythm Stick English Pale Ale, Mr Brownstone Hazelnut
Brown Ale, Sugarman Belgian Quad and a fruity Bomber Imperial IPA. These beers
are flavoured with food extracts, not something we are fond of. The Hazelnut
one smells and tastes like a Cadbury's Hazelnut chocolate. If that is your
thing....
The Darling Brewery is always worth visiting when you visit Darling and doing a
tasting. We did it last year, very fine beers
Steel Cut Spirits showed their Sugarbird Fynbos Gin
and with it a new Tonic called Barker and Quin. Lynne loved it, as it is not as
sweet as some of the newer tonics available locally and has a good dose of
lemon, so you don't have to go searching for a slice in desperation. Perfect if
you have a "dry" month but want to pretend you are drinking a G
&T
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
