Get ‘schooled’ in Cape Saint Blaize gin at the Gin School

Gin has dusted itself off as the ‘old lady on the block’ and transformed itself into the coolest kid on the block – a must-have drink for every occasion.

Cape Saint Blaize tasting at the Gin School

Pictures: Xanet Scheepers

Alcohol has been around for thousands of years, and as our apelike ancestors evolved into the species we are today, so too did alcohol.

According to The Conversation, the oldest signs of alcohol dates back to 7 000 BC in China, where residue in clay pots revealed that people were making an alcoholic beverage from fermented rice, millet, grapes, and honey.

Wine was fermented in the Caucasus in 6,000 BC; Sumerians brewed beer in 3,000 BC. In the Americas, Aztecs made pulque from the same agaves used today for tequila; Incas brewed chicha, a corn beer.

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The origins of gin

According to The World Gin Club, gin is originally from The Netherlands and were used for its medicinal purposes in the Middle Ages. Juniper berries, which are a popular ingredient in gins today, was known for its disinfectant healing power and used to treat fever and even the pest.

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While gin is no longer used medicinally to fight the pest – unless you had a really bad day at work – it has grown from an old lady’s G&T afternoon drink to one of the trendiest drinks on the menu.

A new South African gin on the market

Currently, there are around 1722 different gins in the world, and last week yet another one was introduced to The Citizen at the Gin School at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways during an intimate tasting event.

Cape Saint Blaize is a Artisanal Distillery in Mossel Bay and was founded by JJ Moorcroft in 2020.

A very interesting fact about this gin is that they don’t use glass bottles for their gin. Cape Saint Blaize gin is bottled in porcelain ceramic bottles, made by the community to create job creation.

“Mossel Bay and the Garden Route is a very small area where job opportunities are few and far between. The founders of Cape Saint Blaize have been active in the Mossel Bay area for more than 35 years, and Mr Moorcroft decided that he wanted to give back to the community,” Leroy Maritz, the brand ambassador at Cape Saint Blaize Distillery explained at the tasting.

He says they went through about 13 000 – 14 000 broken bottles before they found a winning formula, which is the bottle their gins are sold in now.

It takes about 10 days to make these delicate porcelain bottles.

The beautiful handcrafted black, white and dusty pink porcelain bottles are cast using a unique mould that was created by a pottery master. Once the bottles are dry, they are fettled by hand, the process where all the rough edges are removed. The bottles are then fired in kilns to temperatures exceeding 1000°c for vitrification to occur.

Next all the bottles get sanded and quality tested by hand, where bottles are checked for defects.

Each bottle is then filled, labelled and packed by hand.

A very interesting facts about Cape Saint Blaize gin is that every bottle’s cork sprout is slightly bigger, or smaller, than the other. This, Maritz explains, is because each cork for each bottle of gin gets individually sanded to fit into that particular bottle.

What we love about Cape Saint Blaize gin

The beautiful, handcrafted bottles is the first thing that caught my eye, but the gin itself – available in three styles – Classic London Dry, New World and Sipping is equally as impressive as the bottles they come in.

Cape Saint Blaize gin porcelain bottles — *Picture: Xanet Scheepers*

Something that was completely different for me was the chocolate pairing with the gin, which really brought out the flavours of each gin. While I have done a wine and chocolate pairing, this was a fresh new take on drinking and tasting gin.

Cape Saint Blaize gin tasting paired with chocolate — *Pictures: Xanet Scheepers*

Gin Classic is a crisp and heady gin with juniper, toasted spice and crisp citrus tasting notes.

Gin Floristic is an ambrosial and fragrant gin, with tasting notes of a subtle Turkish delight and rose. This is one of the most delicious pink gins I have tasted and even when sipping on it neat, it goes down beautifully smooth.

Gin Oceanic is a fulsome and aromatic gin with a robust taste of rooibos, dark chocolate and candied orange. This gin one would drink like you would a whiskey, neat and on the rocks, with a lovely fire crackling in the background.