Estate Living Magazine Estate Living Issue 28 April | Seite 8

Gins &
things
South Africa has never been a big gin-drinking nation. As an
pouring a drink for customers and seeing their eyes light up as African distillers still need to work on perfecting the quality of
they experience one of my cocktails for the first time. Without the base spirit, which can at times lack finish. “While we have
doubt my favourite part of this job is serving the products I the most incredible ingredients to work with, we need to put
make to clients and seeing their reaction. To educate and more focus on their origin, medicinal uses and their unique
convert them into gin fanatics and see the appreciation they heritage,” says Grobler.
have for the craft never gets old.”
industry, gin is still very much in its infancy, but that is slowly Her formulae, or lack thereof, are obviously working, given that
changing, thanks partly to one woman and her determination to last year the distillery’s Westcliff Gin won the Michelangelo
put South African gins on the map. Wine and Spirit Award’s top-scoring craft gin. Their Barrel
Meet Jacqueline Grobler, a 40-something-year-old mother of
two based in Linbro Park, Frankenwald, in Johannesburg. With
a background in fine jewellery design, Jacqueline has always
had an eye for the unusual and always operates outside of the
norm – not believing in anything average. Raised in Centurion,
Jacqueline says her dad, who was an engineer and inventor,
and her mother, who has always been in the corporate world,
both influenced her career in significant but separate ways.
At the end of 2015, she began experimenting with unique
infusions in glass jars in the family kitchen. She would add
alcohol to these infusions and then manufacture them in a kettle
made from an old copper geyser. The process quickly evolved
Aged Chilli Ginifer Gin won Best International Infused Gin at
Gin is also
like making
perfume
and, for me,
it is pure
alchemical
magic
Not content to stop there, Grobler started experimenting with
gin and vodka and even dabbled in whisky. Making gin was
She established Angel Heart Beverages in 2016, and has been
selling her gins, which retail for between R 360 and R 400 per
bottle, nationwide.
a natural flow from liqueur and satisfied her need to really “We are not interested in selling booze but rather in selling the
understand distilling as an art. experience,” she says. She goes on to explain how she pours her
“Gin is also like making perfume and, for me, it is pure
alchemical magic,” she says. “The complexity of working with
a live botanical and manipulating the oils to create a specific
flavour is quite a heady experience and incredibly rewarding.
Gin is such an easy alcohol to drink. You simply add tonic and
Angel Hearts won nine awards in 2017, rendering the owner
incredibly proud.
It is also a huge achievement given that she is a woman playing
in the predominately male-dominated alcohol industry, largely
run by big and well-established estates. Grobler explains that
one of her biggest challenges is having to work extra hard at
energy into each formulation and never follows a recipe nor a
predetermined formula or process. Instead, Grobler composes
her gins very much like a symphony, adding notes that come
together to create something unique and quite magical – a
matchless taste sensation.
resurgence in popularity for alternatives to wine, with an
increasing demand for complex cocktails. Gin has a natural
fit and is the perfect ingredient for more sophisticated and
intricate drinks. One good gin can easily be distinguished
from the next, and each has a specific taste profile and a
unique scent. This makes gin cocktails interesting, easy to
serve and easy to drink, says Grobler.
“I think in South Africa it feels as if the explosion of gin onto
the culinary and alcoholic beverage scene was very sudden,
but gin has in fact been gaining popularity in countries like
being recognised as the distiller and not the promo girl. Spain and England for quite some time now and is slowly
“People immediately assume I have someone – a man – who varied, and small breweries and distilleries locally are steadily
makes my gin. To be taken seriously I have to demonstrate gaining momentum as demand grows, which is a good sign,”
that it’s quite possible for a woman to understand the
technicalities of a distillery and a factory environment. Science
and before long she began making a unique liqueur, which she
named Angel Heart.
the ADI in the USA, and their Ginifer Gin won silver. In total,
This is especially relevant as there has been a massive
making its mark here too. The profile of the gin drinker is very
she explains.
doesn’t have a gender: it’s clean and process-driven, which As a serial innovator with more energy than she knows
is in my favour. Without doubt, man y gender stigmas are still what to do with, Grobler has a healthy mix of plans afoot,
alive and well in South Africa, but we are breaking them one including launching another small batch of uber-cool gins,
by one,” she laughs. named Tincture and Moonshine. Not content to stop at that,
Her success is also a sign of changing tastes in South Africa.
The domestic gin industry is very different to the rest of the
world and very much in its infancy, with only 35 or so local
gins on the market. Yet the passion of the locals and the
distinctive fauna and flora make South Africa unique, with a
vast range of botanicals from different parts of the country
with which gin can be infused.
she also has plans to develop and introduce a rum to the
South African market, and would also like to launch a hugely
creative pop-up shop concept and a pop-up mobile bar.
Not bad for a woman simply messing around in the kitchen! In
achieving world recognition for her outstanding gins, Grobler
not only puts the diversity of this country, its madness and
its beauty on the map, but also successfully contributes to
a slice of citrus and you have a fantastically refreshing cocktail,” “We want people to feel something when they drink our This creates the most wonderful opportunities for developing building and leaving a lasting legacy that reflects what’s
she explains. products,” says Grobler. “There’s nothing more gratifying than uniquely South African gin but, according to Grobler, South great about South Africa and its quiet feminine revolution.
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