TZANEEN – A rapidly growing local craft distillery is quickly gaining recognition for its creativity, quality, and passion for handcrafted spirits.

A dream that grew into a local brand

What began as founder and entrepreneur Mark Dando’s dream to produce alcohol from scratch has developed into a thriving business, recently welcoming a new manager, Gerhard van Niekerk, who says he has “fallen in love with the industry” from day one.

Their development approach is hands-on and highly experimental. When creating new products, the team starts by infusing the desired flavour, bottling initial samples, and then fine-tuning the botanicals until the perfect balance is achieved.

One of their standout successes is the recently launched grapefruit gin, introduced less than a month ago and already gaining popularity among customers.

According to the distillery, they are the only producers who have successfully created this particular infusion, resulting in a flavor that is both unique and highly praised.

“All our gins are great, but the grapefruit is special,” Van Niekerk shared. “We found a way to formulate it perfectly, and people absolutely love it.”

Tastings and events boost community engagement

Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive across the board. The distillery regularly hosts tastings and participates in shows to introduce its range to new audiences, efforts that consistently generate enthusiastic responses.

Their on-site venue, which also serves as a function space, provides another platform to showcase their expanding portfolio.

Beyond gin, the distillery has made significant strides in rum and brandy production.

Their innovative aging method, which uses American dark oak pieces in glass jars, accelerates maturation by up to five times while preventing the typical 25% volume loss known as the “angel’s share” during barrel aging.

This technique not only speeds up production but also preserves character and quality.