Only a few months shy of their first birthday, local Gember Distillery, who produce the Two Gingers Gin brand, have already notched up gold and double-gold for three of their four gins at the Merit Wine & Spirit Challenge and the SA Craft Gin Awards held earlier this year.
The Merit Wine & Spirit Challenge held in August at Klein Joostenberg in Stellenbosch, was judged by a panel of young (and seasoned) professionals who sipped and sampled their way through various local wines and spirits. With a focus on finding quality flavours that tantalise a more youthful palate, as is the current trend, they found Two Gingers’ Spice Route and Soul Flame to hit just the right notes. Both gins received gold awards at the blind tasting.
At the SA Craft Gin Awards, Africa’s largest gin competition, Two Gingers walked away with double golds for Pink Pomelo and Soul Flame, along with a gold for Spice Route. The judging panel reported that the overall quality of SA gins had definitely improved and that contrary to previous years, South African producers are realising that gin drinkers can identify synthetic flavours and actually prefer the more authentic, natural and subtle juniper-forward gins. “That was exactly our thinking when it came to creating our range of gins: while we adopt classic distilling methods, we don’t conform to conventional gin flavours and nuances – we are all about unique and different flavour profiles that don’t require any ‘window dressing’,” says Wynand de Vries, co-founder and COO of Two Gingers.
Commenting on the awards, CEO and co-founder Simon Cranswick said that he is super proud of his team and the phenomenal achievement of conceptualising, creating and producing four gin varietals in under a year – La Primavera which launched in September completes their four-seasons-in-one-day portfolio. “These awards go a long way to validating our decision to build this brand and come up with non-fussy, authentic, flavoursome gins, and our range is literally flying off the shelves.”
Two Gingers is rapidly gaining traction in the South African market and the group is in the process of entering the export space. Their distillery in Muizenberg is open for tastings on Fridays from 14:00 to 16:00 and on Saturdays from 12:00 to 14:00 – you can visit their website to book, and if you’re looking to buy, you will find a list of nationwide outlets or you can order direct.
