WeeklySA_AdminRESILIENCE: The makings of Soweto Gin to capture the triumphant spirit and pulse of the giant township
By Len Maseko
Few townships – if any – boast names that transcend borders and captivate the world’s imagination as does Soweto, the sprawling metropolis of more than three million inhabitants with a rich history spanning more than 100 years.
Dozens of places across the world have claimed a piece of the name across the world over years – and reams of paraphernalia don its name; ditties have been composed after it; it has inspired volumes of poems and other eulogies. Still, the mere mention of its name today captivates multitudes – for its rich history and credentials as the heartland of the liberation struggle in this country.
Hence, the droves of tourists visit the place daily to imbibe its aura, tap into its pulse as well as experience the magic of its inhabitants and cultural places. To capture the essence of Soweto and spirit is the latest creation to emerge its environs – Soweto Gin. The gin is the brainchild of Nkululeko “Dada” Maseko, an entrepreneur who launched his career in the world of drinks through world’s spirits and wine distributor RGBC 12 years ago.
For his part, Maseko is a well-travelled marketer of some of the world’s luxury brands like Hennessy, Dom Perignon, Glen Morangie, and Moet and Chandon in Soweto. He is also a former brand ambassador for Maccalan, having overseen the premier whisky’s markets in Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and South Africa.
Recalling his journey with gin, Maseko said: “Our involvement with gin was the result of a casual discussion, outside a club in Pimville in 2017, about how the spirit had begun to take the world by storm then, especially South Africa”.
“That discussion actually led to the organising of the first gin festival Our next move was to organise a gin festival 2017 to test the market in Soweto and assess how popular the spirit was locally at the time”.
After hosting the gin festival for three years in a row until 2019, he and his associates decided to stepped up their interest in the category by launching Soweto Gin. Unfortunately, he said, they had to shelve their plans when the world was unexpectedly hit by a pandemic, which precipitated a raft of lockdowns that made it difficult to launch the product. It was only this year, in March, that plans to launch the gin came into place, and so Soweto Gin was born. The gin is a tribute to the resilient spirit of Soweto and, according to Maseko, marks a long-haul entrepreneurial journey to take it to the rest of the world within the next five years.
To capture the essence of the gin, Maseko and his team have crafted a product statement that proudly adorns every bottle of the spirit, and it reads: “This is the story of a triumphant people choosing to own their narrative. A people who against all odds chose to rise above their circumstances; above their limits to create anything.
“This is our gift to the future. Soweto Gin born in Soweto’’.
What decisions did they have to make when crafting the product?
“Well, we saw that many gins at the time reeked with botanicals, something which confused a lot of consumers, mistook that for alcohol. As soon as they got tired of this style of gins heavily infused with botanicals, consumers tired of this and moved to cleaner genres of the spirit like the London Dry Gin,” Maseko said.
Their decision was to move away from the style dominated by flavourings to the more austere genre that kept the signature ingredient of gin – Juniper berries – and lemongrass and mandarin.
“As a result, Soweto Gin has a nose that imparts citrus (from mandarin), sweet and sour aromas. So, when you taste, one will sense a sweetness on the tip of the tongue and a follow-through of citrusy and sour taste on the palate,’’ Maseko said.
Indeed, the gin’s flavour profile fits Maseko’s description from the first swig and to the finish – an experience that heightened by wafts through the nostrils of mandarin and lemongrass aromas. The gin is decidedly smooth when enjoyed neat, and even more so with a tonic, and sumptuous.
Maseko said plans are foot to export the brandy to the USA, with local liquor store in New York (Happy Cork) already in discussions with them to list the product. Soweto Gin (750ml) cost between R279 and R299, depending on where it is available.
“We have produced 4 500 bottles since March, all sold at independent bottle stores in Gauteng and KZN. For us, it is a great start to have received a warm reception in the market,” Maseko added. Cheers.
The rise and rise of Gin
ORIGINS: Thanks to the monks who gave the spirit to the world. It is common knowledge that gin’s popularity – in the past few years – has been something of an explosion with recordings of phenomenal figures that are unparalleled by other categories of drinks. According to the SA Wine Industry Information and Systems, gin sales were up 151% – from over six million litres to over 15 million – from 2014 to 2018. And, according to Moneyweb, gin sales grow by 50 percent year on year. Who do we the origins to? Well, Wikipedia, records that the spirt originated “as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern France, Flanders and the Netherlands, to provide aqua vita from distillates of grapes and grain.”
After that, it seems European entrepreneurs realised that there was more in gin that in its medicinal properties, creating a drink a for leisurely enjoyment as it increasingly “became an object of commerce in the spirits industry,” according to Wikipedia. So popular the spirit became that legendary British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was once moved to credit the for “saving more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than doctors in the Empire combined”.
Small wonder then that English put their own stamp on the spirit, categorising their own brand as London Dry Gin, which has become the signature taste for the drink. They are also credited to have introduced the legendary gin and tonic to the world. The cocktail apparently came into being when “British officers in India in the early 19th century took to adding a mixture of water, sugar, lime and gin to the quinine in order to make the drink more palatable, thus gin and tonic was born”, according to Wikipedia.
Apart from igniting many parties in the past and today, gin has inspired a rich chest of quotes uttered by a variety of world’s celebrities in moments of either thirsting for it or drenched in the spirit.
But none – in tribute of the legendary spirit – is more memorable than American comedian Phyllis Diller’s alleged experience: “The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron”. For good measure, be advised not to repeat Diller’s “accidental” experiment, especially when one has a whole day’s ironing to do, and alone.
