Cheers Vol. 49 July / Aug 2020 by Cheers Magazine

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C O M P L I M E N TA R Y M A G A Z I N E JUL / AUG 2020 VOL49

THE HOUSES OF

COGNAC

PILSENER’S FAD OR FASHION NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

Jul | Aug 2020|49

WIN!

ORTS F ALL S DERS O Y P O N O AC -DISH W OF ONE AL LASCARIS NT BY CHA

PERFECT SERVE: GINGER SQUARE

MANY CHARMS

DECODING THE WINE LABEL

FANTASTIC RECIPES INSIDE – FROM INDULGENT PASTEIS DE NATA TO AUSTRIAN GOULASH SOUP

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F RO M T H E E D I TO R

cheers TOPS at SPAR Group Advertising & Promotions Manager – Liquor Jess Nicholson Group Advertising Controller – Liquor Nicole Annandale

CONFESSION TIME

dozen years ago I developed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as a result of a pre-existing hormonal condition – and yes, I hasten to add the NON-ALCOHOLIC bit because so many people assumed at the time (I was editor of WINE magazine) that it was related to my job as a wine taster and wine writer. It certainly didn’t help – but it wasn’t the reason I became very ill.

Bottom line is that when my doctor analysed my blood tests and specifically my liver enzymes, she asked: “You DO know what this means, don’t you?” (I still wake up in a cold sweat some nights with that one line running in my head.) I didn’t – so smiled helpfully to prompt her for the next line. “Erm, no?” “No drinking.” There it was. Thinking it was just a temporary advisory, I cheerfully and ignorantly blundered on: “For how long?” “Ever!” was her response. And with that I had that weird physical sensation where everything just goes numb and you get a sinking feeling. It was a good thing I was sitting down because my knees went so wobbly I’d have collapsed otherwise. Well, the first appointment I could get with Groote Schuur Hospital’s (brilliant!) Liver Clinic was in three months time, so that was it: I was dry ... and editor of WINE magazine. Oh, the irony of writing about wine in glowing terms without swallowing a drop! It’s ultimately what dictated my mid-life career pivot but that’s a whole other story. It was remarkable what a difference not drinking made. I was hyper-aware of how casually so many people drink. Wine was my job, yes, so one or two tastings a week were mandatory – but those were professional

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commitments so the wine ended up in the spittoon, not down my gullet. It was the business lunches, after work drinks, weekend braais and dinners where I realised that casual gin and tonics, glasses of bubbles, red and white were consumed. The weirder thing was how it affected everyone else! I had one (senior) colleague who felt I was suddenly unable to do my job and actively lobbied for my demise but people I interacted with got twitchy and somewhat nervous, not knowing how to handle a nondrinker. It became standard for me to ask for sparkling water instead of sparkling wine. If Appletiser was around, I’d have it in a Champagne glass and the colour and fizzy bubbles fooled everyone into acting normally. At the bar counter I’d ask for a ginless tonic and lime and soda became my go-to. It took a decade for the mindful drinking movement to catch up with me. It’s now become a thing – much like Meat-free Mondays is “a thing”. People are thinking about the choices they make when it comes to beverages. This is no prohibitionist lobby such as was demonstrated during the Coronavirus lockdown period, but rather a social awareness. The good news is that my liver enzymes returned to normal and, with regular annual testing, blissfully stay that way. Which means that I can have the occasional guilt-free gin and tonic, refreshing ale or whisky. Cheers!

FIONA MCDONALD CHEERS EDITOR

CheersMag

INTEGRATED MEDIA Publisher Shayne Dowling shayne@integratedmedia.co.za Editor Fiona McDonald fiona@integratedmedia.co.za Sub-Editor Gerrit Rautenbach Art Director Claire Horner studio@integratedmedia.co.za Advertising Shayne Dowling shayne@integratedmedia.co.za PR & Promotions Dee Griffin dee@integratedmedia.co.za Photography iStockphoto.com Contributors Emile Joubert, Gerrit Rautenbach, Teresa Ulyate, Dr Winnie Bowman, Lucy Corne, Clifford Roberts, Brad Cartwright. Head Office Cape Town Tel: 021 685 0285 Address Suite WB03 Tannery Park 23 Belmont Road, Rondebosch, 7700 Postal Address PO Box 259, Rondebosch, 7701 Printing Novus Print Published by Integrated Media for TOPS at SPAR

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS Competition submissions should reach us no later than 15th August 2020. The Prize/s is as indicated, no alternatives or cash will be provided. The decision of Integrated Media will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. Under no circumstances shall Integrated Media, TOPS at SPAR, SPAR or its appointed representatives and the prize donors be liable to anyone who enters these Prize Draws for an indirect or consequential loss howsoever arising which may be suffered in relation to the Prize Draws. By entering these competitions you make yourself subject to receiving promotional information. Entrants are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions. Prize Draw Rules: The prize draw is only open to consumers who must be over 18 years of age and resident in South Africa. Employees of Integrated Media and TOPS at SPAR, SPAR and their respective advertising, media and PR agencies, as well as the family members, consultants, directors, associates and trading partners of such organisations and persons are ineligible for the draw. Participants can only win one competition every three issues.

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FRENCH SPIRIT

The Houses that Cognac built

features 12

BEHIND THE LABEL

Making sense of all the wine information 22 BRANDY IN SOUTH AFRICA

Culture, heritage and craft

contents

28 REVIEWING COGNAC

The Very Special offerings on display 38 MINDFULNESS

Distilling non-alcoholic alternatives 60 LOCKDOWN MUSINGS

The eternal lure of angling 66 A TAXING ISSUE

When sweet is not-so-sweet...

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regulars 1

FROM THE EDITOR

Drinking responsibly 4

THE SCOOP

Fashionable Fitch & Leedes makeover, Women making their mark in the spirit world, SAB supports 0% and local Portstyle wines perfect for the season. 32 PERFECT SERVE

Going retro with the Ginger Square 42 HOT BITES

Austrian beef goulash soup and a few mocktails 46 BLOGSPOT

Decadent Pasteis de Nata 50 HUISKOK

Emile Joubert’s latest recipes 52 BOOK GIVEAWAY

Keep the washing up to a minimum All Sorts of One Dish Wonders style 56 DIARY DATES

Mastering wine and tasting it... virtually 64 ENTERTAINMENT

Deep Purple, Tom Cruise as Maverick and Harlan Corben’s latest book

Check out Cheers magazine online

www.cheersmag.co.za

58 APPS

Counting caolories and staying on track 68 THINGAMAJIGS

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life without a small treat? 69 NEXT ISSUE

Rollicking rum tales 72 LOOPDOP

Boere help uit in moeilike tye

WIN!

A COPY OF ALL SORTS OF ONE-DISH WONDERS BY CHANTAL LASCARIS

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THE SCOOP

RETRO FITTING FITCH & LEEDES Mixing up the look and feel of its product, Fitch & Leedes has relaunched its glass bottle collection of premium mixers with a nod to the past. Evoking a sense of nostalgia is more than just a marketing gimmick since the underlying message is to be reminiscent of a time when things were carefully made by hand, with great craftsmanship and skill. Bitter or sweet, classic or fruity in regular or sugar free – Fitch & Leedes has a premium mixer for every taste and it’s frequently the preferred choice of top mixologists. Enjoy it on its own over ice as a refreshing alcohol-free alternative or as the perfect mix to your favourite gin or vodka. Even more good news is that Fitch & Leedes has trimmed off some of the calories in their extensive range of mixers. The sugar free Indian tonic boasts less than 1 calorie (4kJ) in a 200ml can! So anyone worried about keeping the kilogrammes at bay should consider switching their current brand to Fitch & Leedes. Coming in at just 5 calories (22kJ) per can, sugar free pink tonic and bitter lemon will also help in the campaign. The Fitch & Leedes range includes Indian, pink, blue and coral (grapefruit flavoured) tonics as well as a variety of mixers – lemonade, ginger ale, club soda, bitter lemon to cheeky cranberry, spicy ginger beer and peach lemonade.

SCORE WITH PASSION Guaranteed to put a bit of pep in the step with a tasty passion fruit twang is the newest member of the Score energy drink range. Score, the energy drink with attitude, has launched a new flavour to fuel your passion and boost vitality to the next level. New Score Passion provides a blast of sparkling passion fruit with a double shot of Guarana for that natural caffeine kick and a healthy dose of B Vitamins. It’s a tasty way of discovering the re-energising power of Score when beginning to flag, pulling an allnighter or out with friends. One suggestion of adding more than just an energy boost is by taking it up a notch by making some really tasty mocktails with Score Passion as the base element. It could become a handy party trick! Taurine free and big on taste, Score Passion is the ultimate energy drink to help you reach your potential. It’s available in mega 500ml cans in leading outlets. SCORE PASSION BASIL & ORANGE Ingredients: 25ml fresh lime juice 25ml fresh orange juice 3 to 4 basil leaves Score Passion energy drink Method: Add lime juice, basil leaves and orange juice to a mixing glass, fill with ice and shake. Strain over cubed ice into a glass and top with Score Passion. Garnish: Half passion fruit, orange slice and basil leaf. SCORE PASSION LEMON & VANILLA Ingredients: 25ml fresh lemon juice 15ml fresh granadilla pulp 15ml vanilla syrup Score Passion energy drink 4 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

Method: Add vanilla syrup, lemon juice and granadilla pulp to a mixing glass and fill with ice. Shake and strain into a glass filled with ice and top with Score Passion. HOMEMADE VANILLA SYRUP Ingredients: 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract Method: Add water and sugar to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Let it cool, then stir in the vanilla extract. Strain into a jar or bottle and seal tightly with a lid.

SPIRITED WOMEN While trying not to sound like the inside of a Chappies bubble-gum wrapper, did you know that market research shows that one of the fastest growing segments of the whisky fraternity is female? According to market research conducted in the United Kingdom by Kantar, women drink 40 million more glasses of whisky a year than they did a decade ago – whereas the consumption rate for men has declined by 6% over the same period. This should have come as no surprise to those in the whisky industry because there are an increasing number of women in key production positions. Rachel Barrie (pictured top right) is the master blender at BenRiach, the firm which was revitalised over the past two decades by former South African owners. Laura Davies is the head distiller at Penderyn distillery in Wales – and took over the position from Gillian Macdonald who was a familiar face at the local Whisky Live events some years back. Macdonald is now head of whisky creation and analytics at Glenmorangie. Davies was quoted in The Guardian newspaper recently as saying it’s not just on the consumption side where women are making their mark. “Nowadays, the scene is completely different. We have a lot more females in the technical and the frontline roles. A lot more distilleries have got those females as the figureheads of their business. Not because they’re nice to look at, but because they know their stuff.” And last year it was announced that Dr Kirsty McCullum (pictured alongside) was taking over as the head of whisky creation at Glen Moray and is now responsible for maintaining the standard and flavour of Cutty Sark, for example. No sweat for the trained chemist who previously handled Distell’s whisky portfolio of Bunnhabhain, Deanston, Tobermory, Black Bottle and Scottish Leader.

SAFE HARBOUR IN PORT For all intents and purposes the rich, sweetly decadent fortified wine style that South Africans love to drink during winter is Port – but due to a trade agreement with the European Union which came into effect in January 2012, local producers are not allowed to call their wines by that name. So to easily identify the “Port-style” wines just look for the following on labels: Cape Ruby, Cape Vintage, Cape Tawny and Cape Late Bottled Vintage. What’s the difference between these wines and true Port from Portugal, other than the geographical area of origin? Calitzdorp producer De Krans penned this handy explanation: “Port is a style of wine and classified as a fortified dessert wine. Port is higher in both sugar and alcohol compared to a regular wine. This is achieved by stopping fermentation halfway through fermentation by adding unmatured brandy spirit (which raises the alcohol content and stops the fermentation).” While these wines are usually the accompaniment to a cheeseboard at the end of a meal, De Krans has a host of suggestions. Make the most of winter by adding a splash of De Krans Cape Ruby to a potjie or a hearty meat stew. “Next level,” is the promise De Krans makes. “Don’t be afraid to experiment!” Some other De Krans port-style wine based inspirations include the Cape Pink honey glazed pork chops served with mustard mashed potatoes, Cape Vintage glazed oxtail served with rice, as well as a Tawny Port Pecan Nut Pie. 6 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

MAN IN THE MIDLETON Ireland is experiencing a boom in whiskey production with consumers increasingly appreciating the spirit from the Emerald Isle. With Brian Nation moving from Irish Distillers’ Midleton distillery to tackle the challenge of starting up a new facility in the United States, the post of Master distiller became vacant. It was recently announced that Kevin O’Gorman would take up the reins at Midleton. Pronouncing himself “delighted” chairman and CEO of Irish Distilleries Conor McQuaid said O’Gorman’s “exceptional leadership and talent as Master of Maturation has impressed the whiskey world ever since he took on the role in 2007”. A Cork native, O’Gorman is a master craftsman having started his career in Midleton in 1998, working as a distiller under the tutelage of Master Distiller Emeritus Barry Crockett. From there he moved to Maturation where he honed his skills under then Master of Maturation Brendan Monks before assuming the role of Master of Maturation on Brendan’s retirement in 2007. His roles and responsibilities see him tackle the enormous task of overseeing the production process from brewing to distillation. He will now be responsible for protecting the rich heritage of the world’s most famous Irish whiskeys such as Jameson, Powers, Redbreast, Midleton, Method and Madness and the Spot range, ensuring the quality of all new pot and grain distillates produced at Midleton which go into these brands while at the same time supporting future innovation.

RECORD COGNAC KNOCKED DOWN Sotheby’s is a venerable auction firm – and it recently had the honour of handling the sale of one of the oldest Cognacs to ever go under the hammer. One of only three bottles remaining in the world, the 1762 bottle of Gautier Cognac – still with its original label! – was sold to an unnamed Asian buyer for the world record sum of $144 525, or R2.45 million. Exceedingly rare, the spirit is believed to still be eminently drinkable according to Sotheby’s spirits specialist Johnny Fowle. “Yes, this should still be drinkable. While the liquid will certainly have aged in the bottle, the ullage (level of liquid inside) is still very good, suggesting that the seal has not been compromised and the evaporation is minimal,” he explained. “High ABV liquids like this preserve themselves very well although I would expect there to be discernible ‘O.B.E.’ This stands for Old Bottle Effect, which is how we describe the development of spirits over time. Sometimes this can impart very pleasant tropical notes and at other times less appealing porridge-y notes. It can also be assumed that the glass used to bottle this cognac wasn’t entirely inert, and so will have imparted some flavours of its own. “Judging by its level I would expect this cognac to be in remarkably good condition,” he said. “To imagine how this Cognac may taste would be pure speculation, but the depth of flavour imparted from grapes grown on ancient root stock could give the spirit a complexity that is harder to come by in the modern era.” Providing context, this Cognac would have been bottled when Mozart was a boy of just six years old, George Washington turned 30 and Catherine II became empress of Russia while Britain entered the Seven Years’ War against Spain and Naples. Whisky still remains supreme in the collectability stakes, however with the world’s most expensive whisky sold for almost $2 million (R34 million) in 2019.

CAN DO, WILL DO Robertson Winery became the first large commercial wine producer to commit to wine in a can shortly before alcohol sales were suspended due to lockdown in March. The single serve 200ml wines in cans are ideal for picnics, parties and any outdoor event, Robertson Winery believes, joining the swing to this packaging format which smaller producers have trialled recently. The stylish, convenient and environmentally friendly wines come in white and red: a Sauvignon Blanc which already has an established track record as a pocket and crowd-pleaser and ripe, rich and smooth Merlot – also from the 2019 vintage – which offers up oodles of black berry fruit flavours. The wines are identical to Robertson Winery’s bottled Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot, wines consumers know and trust. The cans provide an excellent oxygen and light barrier, protecting the wine, keeping it fresh, and retaining the aromas and flavours. There’s no metallic taste transfer from the can, thanks to a lining that stops the wine’s acidity from interacting with the metal. Always embracing innovation, Robertson Winery’s unique single serve 200ml convenience adds to the strength of the brand, providing the perfect one-glass serving – beautifully chilled and fresh from the first to the last sip. With consumers knowing exactly how much they are drinking; the smaller can size is ideal for those following health conscious and lower alcohol lifestyles. J U L / AU G 2 0 2 0

BLOOMING MARVELLOUS OFFER Lockdown put the skids on many a planned wedding, shattering brides dreams of walking down the aisle, surrounded by family and friends, to a life of happily ever after. It might still be relatively new to the South African market but Bloom gin hopes to instill a bit of hope and restore happiness by offering one lucky couple the chance to win Bloom ready-to-drink serves when the wedding finally does go ahead. Not only that but Bloom will also provide its on trend London dry gin for cocktails to toast the special day. For couples to enter the draw for the complimentary Bloom ready-to-drink serves for their wedding favours, they need simply

visit www.bloomgin.co.za/bloomwedding and register their details. To be eligible for the offer, entrants must be over the age of 18 and have had their wedding date scheduled between 20 March and 30 September 2020. The competition is open from 1 June 2020 and will close on 30 September 2020. (Terms and Conditions apply – more on the Bloom website.) While it’s no consolation for all of the hard work, planning and saving that has gone into making their dream wedding a reality, Bloom Gin hopes that the small gesture will lighten the load of couples across the country and help to put a smile back on their faces.

TANGLED TREE’S ECO CRED Ethical and eco-conscious producers the world over are trying hard to tread as lightly on the planet as possible – and Van Loveren wines in Robertson is no different. Van Loveren has not only taken the step of packaging its Tangled Tree wine in bottles which have a 60% reduced carbon footprint than standard glass equivalents, but they even share suggestions of how to re-use and upcycle the bottle once its contents have been drained. The story of how the wine range came to get its name is a romantic one – and ideally suited to this eco-friendly range by the Retief family. It was inspired by a pair of trees on the Robertson family farm which sinuously entwined around each other. In 1941, matriarch Jean Retief ordered a Rhus Lancea tree from the then Natal province. Her husband Hennie believed it was the same as the Karee trees that grew along the river. He planted a local shoot next to hers and as they both grew, he was ultimately proven right. Tangled Tree wines comprise Tropical Sauvignon Blanc, a crisp and fruity wine with aromas of tropical fruit; Butterscotch Chardonnay, defined by expressive aromas of butterscotch and crème brûlée and balanced by the subtle intensity of the fruit; the delicately pink Moscato Rosé, which has a luscious nose of upfront Muscat and rose petals; Chocolate Cabernet Sauvignon, characterised by chocolate and mocha aromas, elegantly layered with notes of cassis and blackberries; and, Spicy Shiraz, which has a rich and powerful red-berry essence. While Tangled Tree PET bottles are free of the industrial chemical BPA and highly recyclable, they offer another great way to minimize waste which can be a fun way to relax and get creative. They’ve been re-used to make costume jewellery, trinket-holders, furniture, bird feeders and even vertical gardens. 8 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

COOLER SITES FOR SURVIVOR Until now, the Survivor range of wines has had a specific focus on the Swartland – after all, that is where the intrepid Nguni cow leaped off the back of a truck transporting her to pastures new! The latest Survivor Chardonnay to be released is now from the cooler terroir of Elgin with grapes sourced from the apple growing area. “Survivor wines are terroir driven, so it’s important for us to source our wines from the best sites. Elgin is one of the sites where Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay express their true character, while our signature Chenin Blanc and Pinotage will always remain firmly rooted in the Swartland,” said winemaker Ben Snyman. Given the inevitable effect of climate change, the winemaking team is also being proactive in venturing beyond the Swartland for varieties that are better suited to cooler climes. Survivor’s low-yielding Swartland vineyards grow in deep red Oakleaf and Hutton soils, fanned by cooling afternoon and evening breezes from the Atlantic, while the cooler dryland Elgin vines grow in sandy loam soils. “The Elgin vineyards fit perfectly with our single minded focus on crafting site specific wines that express their true sense of place and authenticity,” said Snyman. In addition to the new Elgin origin, Survivor Chardonnay 2019 is the first wine in the range supported by an interactive web-based augmented reality (AR) device. Activated by a dedicated QR code on the back of the bottle, the Survivor journey comes to life when the label is scanned on your smartphone. The AR capability takes consumers into the 3D world of Survivor and can be found on all the new vintage releases. You’ll have the freedom to explore the Survivor vineyards of the Swartland and Elgin, guided by winemaker Ben Snyman, and watch Survivor’s sense of place unfold.

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Not For Persons Under The Age Of 18.

BIODYNAMIC AND COOL South Africa is home to only a handful of certified biodynamic wine producers, and Elgin Ridge Wine Estate happens to be one of these. Located in the Elgin Wine Valley, the estate owned by Brian and Marion Smith is known for producing a small range of outstanding wines, which includes their new release Elgin Ridge 282 Sauvignon Blanc 2017 and 282 Pinot Noir 2015, respectively. According to winemaker Kosie van der Merwe good rain received in the winter resulted in a well-balanced crop with healthy Sauvignon Blanc fruit. After natural fermentation the wine was left on the lees for nine months. Its distinctive fruit aromas were further elevated as a result of the small percentage of oak added before bottling. The result is a Sauvignon Blanc with an exquisite pale yellowgreen colour and aromas of ripe pineapple, blackcurrant and Elderflower, which carries through to a palate with lime undertones. These flavours make for a wine with a rich, textured finish and a beautifully integrated acidity. Perfect on its own, or paired with a seasonal salad, seafood or poultry dishes. Regarded as the queen of South African red wines, Van der Merwe firmly believes that the 282 Pinot Noir 2015 vintage deserves all of the hype it has received. Although released slightly later than anticipated, this vintage made it through a cold and wet winter which was met by a cool yet moderately dry summer. It resulted in wine with a deep, rich garnet colour, with aromas of dark cherries, roasted cocoa beans and nuances of pine needles. The palate is an amalgamation of green olive tapenade, dark cherries and dry Ceylon tea flavours. As Pinot Noir is one of the most versatile red wines it is also the perfect food wine, and can be enjoyed throughout the seasons. Another fresh release from this biodynamic estate is Crunch! Pinot Noir 2019, a bright, fresh and engaging berrypacked mouthful. Made with whole bunch natural ferments (50%), the wine was aged in concrete eggs for seven months, resulting in an everyday drinking wine. The process that the wine goes through is perfectly described as a combination of natural, old-school and innovative techniques – a harmonious partnership between old and new. Another stand out feature of the Crunch! is that, although bottled under cork, there is no foil or wax wrapping. This has been done deliberately to best illustrate Brian and Marion’s philosophy of their “feet on the ground” approach.

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ZERO TOLERANCE One of the issues which became apparent with the reduction of coronavirus enforced lockdown levels permitting the sales of liquor was the sudden spike in alcohol-related incidents, one of which was motorists driving under the influence. An effective tool in the kit of enforcement authorities was the use of breathalysers – but due to the aerosol nature of Covid 19 transmission this has become problematic and has been suspended. Vice president of corporate affairs at SA Breweries, Zoleka Lisa said the company’s unwavering support of the more stringent National Road Traffic Amendment Bill of 2019 remained. The bill, submitted to Parliament at the beginning of 2020, is poised to completely prohibit the consumption of alcohol if driving. SAB has already undertaken to put its money where its mouth is, having partnered with the Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) to establish SAB’s Alcohol Evidence Centres (AECs). Lisa said these “AECs are SAB’s best effort to help equip law enforcement with the tools and support they need to effectively curb road accidents”. An indication of the benefit of these Alcohol Evidence Centres, the first one implemented in Pietermaritzburg in April 2019 has shown impressive results. A 44% reduction in road fatalities in the area was noted by November 2019, Lisa reported. In the five months between March and July last year, there were also more than 420 arrests in the area related to drinking and driving. More importantly, there were 70 successful prosecutions. “Due to the nature of viral transmission, the use of breathalysers and blood tests has been put into question and more stringent regulations will be put in place. As our partners at the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), and local authorities update procedures surrounding BAC testing in line with developing Department of Health regulations, we will continue to work with them to ensure our AECs remain operational and effective during these unprecedented times,” said Lisa. “SAB is fully committed to curbing the threat of drunk drivers on the road and does not want AEC momentum to fade, even with Covid 19 on the rise across the country. Working with our partners is going to be key to this. The suspension of breathalysers should never be a reason to drink and drive. We will keep up the pressure, and do it within the boundaries of the law,” said Lisa.

DISCOVER D’ U S S É ®

SMOOTH AWAR D -W IN NING COG NAC

WINE 101 |

DECODING

THE LABEL AUTHOR DAN BROWN MADE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS THROUGH HIS BOOKS SUCH AS THE DA VINCI CODE, ANGELS & DEMONS AND THE LOST SYMBOL. READERS WERE TAKEN ON SPINE TINGLING AND HEART RACING JOURNEYS ACROSS CONTINENTS BY FINDING A KEY TO UNLOCK HIDDEN CODES AND MESSAGES. FIONA MCDONALD REPORTS.

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WINE 101 |

hey are all around us: signs, codes, subtle messages which mean something. Not all will lead to buried treasure or solve a mystery which has baffled the brains of academics for decades but some can and do. * (See sidebar.) After reading Brown’s books it’s possible to start seeing symbols and messages on dollar notes, carved gargoyles on medieval churches and everyday objects. Some of these little codes and icons serve a practical purpose, such as those on South African banknotes. What look like random squiggles on the very edges of the bill’s sides are actually San rock art figures, only revealed when the note’s edges are rolled and put together! It’s actually one of a number of security features to prevent against counterfeiting, along with the embedded metal strip and watermark. The icon of a camera on a shaded pink/blue background, a little white birdie or the letter f on a blue square are immediately synonymous with Instagram, Twitter and Facebook – if you know what the symbols mean! Which is the point: knowing what the symbols mean and the message that is conveyed. How much do South African consumers know about the average wine label and neck seal? Do they even appreciate just how much information is available by unpacking what is right in front of their eyes? A picture is said to be worth a thousand words but the average wine label can tell so much more than where it was produced and what kind of grapes were used. That’s the obvious info which most people will derive. What can a label tell you? By law – the Liquor Products Act, to be specific – there are certain items which are mandatory. These are: the alcohol content; either the name and full business address of the producer OR the code number; the volume contained in the bottle (750ml, 1.5-litre); the expression or warning “Contains Sulphites” and an approved health warning. (There are seven to select from: Alcohol reduces driving ability, don’t drink and drive. Drinking during pregnancy can be harmful to your unborn baby. Alcohol abuse is dangerous to your health. Alcohol increases your risk to personal injuries. Alcohol is a major cause of violence and crime. Alcohol is addictive. Don’t drink and walk on the road, you may be killed.) One other important piece of information is what the style of the wine is – natural sweet or sparkling, for example. But even with these scant details there’s a lot of information passed on to the consumer. Even the specification of the grape doesn’t necessarily tell the full story ... By law the wine only needs to be a maximum of 85% of the predominant grape. So a Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon could potentially contain other 14 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

A great example of using the label architecture to best effect: clear, concise and containing all the info required by law. Style, vintage, volume, health warning, A number and producer address as well as the alcohol by volume percentage. And Villiera’s Dak Wyn is genuinely left on the roof while maturing!

grapes such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Grenache without any mention of them being made. The same goes for vintages. A 2017 vintage might also have a small proportion of potentially “fresher” 2018 wine blended in just before bottling and release to make it just that little bit more appealing to the consumer. Has anyone ever noticed the A number? If they don’t contain the producer’s address, wine labels will always have an A number. These are numbers issued by the Department of Agriculture’s directorate of plant health and quality. So even if someone purchases a “buyers own brand” label, and it just states Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc, for example, it is still possible to track the producer down, based on that A number. A 1234, might turn out to be Sonskyn wine farm, for example. (Which, to my knowledge, doesn’t exist but is a name used for illustrative purposes only.)

WO Stellenbosch, Coastal or Western Cape also has a story to tell. It’s the Wine of Origin certification which is the consumer’s guarantee that the wine was made in Stellenbosch, for example. South Africa’s production areas are divided into regions, districts and wards, something that was legislated in 1972. Wards are the smallest and most focussed areas of production so, by way of explanation, it’s possible to have a Sauvignon Blanc that is from the ward of Elim. Immediately, the potential buyer has an idea of where exactly the grapes were grown. The wine could, however, also be labelled as being from the Cape South Coast which is an umbrella region covering Cape Agulhas, Elim, Duivenhoks River, Overberg, Plettenberg Bay, Swellendam, Walker Bay, Herbertsdale, Napier and Stilbaai East. There’s a huge amount of distance between Elim and Plettenberg Bay ... The website wine.co.za provided a handy example: “The hierarchy of classification is, in increasing order, a single vineyard wine, an estate, a ward, a district, a region and a geographical unit. Criteria like soil, climate, mountains and rivers are used for the demarcation of origin. An example of the different origin indications is ‘Oupa se Wingerd Muscadel’ which is made from a single vineyard (vineyard wine) on the Weltevrede Estate (estate wine) in Bonnievale (a ward) in the Robertson (district) of the Western Cape (a geographical unit).” And the Western Cape designation? After all, it’s the biggest and least geographically distinct area. Brand owners frequently buy wine from different areas and blend them together. So, for argument’s sake, Sonskyn Chenin could be a blend of Chenin Blanc from Paarl, Worcester and Stellenbosch. It would thus go for an over-arching larger geographical origin: WO Western Cape.

“To take wine into our mouths is to savor a droplet of the river of human history.” - New York Times, 1967 Winelovers are also in the habit of talking about wine estates – not fully appreciating that an “estate” is actually a specific entity, and not all wine farms are estates. To be registered as an estate wine the grapes must be grown, vinified and bottled on a specific property. Stellenbosch’s world-renowned Pinotage producer Kanonkop is an estate. Do yourself a favour next time you’re in TOPS at SPAR and look at the difference between Kanonkop Pinotage and any one of the wines in the same

producers’ Kadette range. Nowhere on the Kadette label will it state that it’s an estate wine. That’s because the grapes and wine for this range are purchased from other properties –all within the Stellenbosch area, but they’re not grown on the physical Kanonkop land. The little label which appears on the neck of the bottle also has a tale to tell. It could take one of two forms. The first is a simple square with a bunch of numbers and the second has a pretty, graphic line sketch of a protea flower and is accompanied by the words “Integrity & Sustainability”. So what does that tell the consumer? The first – purely numbers – seal is an indication that the wine has been certified by the Wine and Spirits Board. So it has gone through a tasting exercise, its paperwork and production inputs have been checked and it meets the requirements of varietal typicity and the like. The second, sustainability, seal is more interesting because South Africa leads the world in this regard. It is a visual stamp of approval of the wine’s integrity, not just the origin, grape variety and vintage but also of the traceability of the wine and its sustainability. This Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) tracks and traces every input made on a particular batch of Sonskyn Chenin Blanc, for example. It is possible to know precisely which vineyard in which area the grapes came from, the age of the vines, the date of harvest and precisely what chemicals (if any!) were used in its production. Joe Bloggs Consumer could go onto the Integrated Production of Wine website, type in the seal number and access that information. Again, this falls under the ambit of the Wine and Spirits Board who conduct audits and check all the paperwork of wine producers. It’s a guarantee to buyers that farmers and wine makers have not used any harmful chemicals or engaged in practices which affect the environment or end users. Currently around 96% of all certified South African wines comply with this voluntary requirement. And most people look at the label and respond to the picture of a coat of arms, a Cape Dutch gabled homestead or some funky typography ... Look a little closer!

MODERN TREASURE American art collector Forrest Fenn buried a little chest filled with gems and gold coins in the Rocky Mountains – and then wrote a 24line poem in his autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase” which provided clues to its whereabouts. In June 2020 Fenn announced that the treasure was found. He’d been sent a photograph by its finder who wished to remain anonymous. The value of the find was estimated at around a million dollars (R17 million). It had taken more than 10 years and apparently been responsible for four deaths among the hundreds of thousands who had hunted for it. The now 90-year-old Fenn said he was “halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over”. “It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn wrote. “I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries.”

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A D V E R TO R I A L |

MARTELL, THE BEST,

WITHOUT ARTIFICE. A LEGACY WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED.

ver 300 years of passion and audacity has built the legacy that is Martell, the oldest of the great four Cognac houses. From Jean Martell’s initial search for the world’s finest eaux-de-vie in 1715, to the 2005 release of Martell’s trailblazing XO, the audacity of a great house never rests. Today, Martell stands as one of the most celebrated and awarded Cognacs in the world with a plethora of impressive achievements as vast as its great history. Most recently VSOP Red Barrels, VS Single Distellery, Cordon Bleu and XO all took Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2019. As such there is no better time to explore the vast audacious world of Martell than now, from home. Martell prides itself on its varied and colourful history, there are a few notable mentions in the line however, one’s worth savoring neat, or in a cocktail. A cognac with subtle aromas, the Martell VSOP Aged in Red Barrels is a perfect harmony of luscious fruit and refined wood overtones that blends smoothness with boldness. The warm copper colour has glints of gold and is

a perfect companion on a cold winters evening. Aromas boast ripe yellow fruit, Mirabelle plum, greengage, apricot and vine peach. The ‘Red’ is a reference to the reddish colour of aged oak. These barrels are carefully crafted from fine-grained oak and have already been used to age eaux-de-vie having reached the perfect stage of maturity before being selected for this cognac. Martell VSOP Aged in Red Barrels perfectly highlights Martell’s unique ageing style, one that celebrates the beautiful and historic transformation and help it develop the last stage of its aromatic and audacious personality. VSOP Aged in Red Barrel’s is just one of the bold cognac’s in the Martell library, and each cognac has its own unique story to tell, from the timeless Cordon Bleu to the esteemed XO. Explore the different styles, individual tasting notes and find your own way to enjoy them this winter, at home. An audacious experience awaits, and much like Rachell Martell who took over Maison Martell in 1753 following founder Jean’s passing, we invite you to savor ‘only the best, without artifice’.

Available at selected TOPS at SPAR stores 16 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

A DV E RTO R I A L

Voyage des Amants 50 ml Martell VSOP Red Barrel 50 ml cold tea (Rooibos preferred) 50 ml Ginger Ale Orange peel twist Fill the highball glass with ice and pour in all ingredients. Stir well until well chilled and garnish with the orange peel twist.

Not For Persons Under The Age Of 18. Enjoy Responsibly.

SPIRIT OF FRANCE |

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SING A SONG OF

COGNAC

WHAT DO EMPEROR NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, JAZZ AGE GREAT JOSEPHINE BAKER, SNOOP DOG AND STORMZY HAVE IN COMMON? FIONA MCDONALD SAVOURS THE TALES ASSOCIATED WITH FRANCE’S FAVOURED DISTILLED SPIRIT.

t’s the ultimate aspirational product – with the marketing budgets to prove it. Music mogul Jay Z has been snapped swigging directly from the bottle, clutching his Grammy award in the other hand, while Bonaparte demanded that his troops have rations of it while fighting wars. Million rand deals are signed and celebrated in Johannesburg’s finest restaurants by captains of finance and industry and a bottle of Cognac on the table is de rigeur. But that’s not the full picture: of the millions of bottles of Cognac produced in France each year, an embarrassingly scant 3% gets consumed in France. The biggest thirst for Cognac of late has been the United States. There was a period in the 80s and 90s when it thrived in the East but then it hit rough times. The Asian Tiger economy boomed and so did the sales of Hennessy, Martell, Courvoisier and Rémy Martin with it. Cognac was massive from Beijing to Tokyo, Singapore to Seoul – until the economy plummeted, with predictable consequences for Cognac. At one point apparently eight years’ worth of stock lay in warehouses, unsold and with no natural market presenting itself. And then in the early 2000s something completely left field happened: rap musicians took to the golden liquid, not just drinking it but singing about it and quite obviously being photographed and captured on social media. Along with the grills, the chunky gold chains and diamond encrusted watches Cognac became cool because Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dog said so! Nearly 20 years later and British rapper Stormy STILL says so – as his 2019 Vossi Bop

hit showed, with Vossi being slang for Courvoisier, one of the most historic of the big four Cognacs on the market. Just four big names dominate the field, accounting for 90% of all sales: Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier with 8 million, 2 million, 1.8 million and 1.5 million bottles sold annually respectively. So what is it about Cognac that it manages to have more lives than a cat? The French owe the Dutch a debt of gratitude because it was they who brought the tradition of distilling wine into spirit to France in the mid 1600s. (The same Dutch traders who established themselves at the Cape and also gave South Africa its distilling tradition of “gebrande wijn” – brandewyn or brandy.)

“Along with the grills, the chunky gold chains and diamond encrusted watches Cognac became cool because Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dog said so!” The story goes that it was foreign merchants who were subsequently responsible for the establishment of the major Cognac companies. Richard Hennessy was Irish and Jean Martell was from Jersey ... which also serves to explain why the categorisation or quality level explanation of Cognac is English. (The main designations are VS – Very Special which is aged for a minimum of two years, VSOP – Very Superior Old J U L / AU G 2 0 2 0

SPIRIT OF FRANCE |

Pale with its minimum age of four years, and XO or Extra Old has had a minimum of 10 years in cask.) Martell has as its official foundation date 1715 while Hennessy started towards the middle of the same century. Travelling the region extensively allowed Jean Martell to taste a range of eaux de vie and to be able to source great bottles and create relationships with the best producers and growers. His widow, Rachel took up the reins on his death in 1753. But it took another 30 years before the first significant commercial success was chalked up: in 1783 the Treaty of Paris recognised the independence of the United States of America. The French had been helpful to the Americans in severing ties with Great Britain so the newly independent Americans were happy to receive the first shipment of Martell Cognac. The Napoleonic wars took place between 1803 and 1815 and it’s rather amusing that although the British were bankrolling many of the countries Napoleon was trying to subjugate, King George III signed a special import license for Martell Cognac to be imported to slake their thirst! (Martell was also featured at the coronation of King George V in 1911.) Five years ago, the House of Martell celebrated its tercentenary, 300 years of making the remarkable spirit, with a gala event for just 300 guests at the Palace of Versailles. Hennessy was founded by Richard Hennessy, the Irishman, in 1765 – and has a proud 255-year history of perfecting 20 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

eaux de vie. According to South African brand manager Khomotso Ledwaba, Hennessy played a pivotal role in the quality classification of Cognac. “Hennessy introduced the Very Special (VS), Very Superior Old Pale (VSOP) and Extra Old (XO) categories we know today,” he said. And unlike other forebears who preferred Martell, Ledwaba said the Prince of Wales and future King George IV was the inspiration for the Very Superior Old Pale classification after he personally requested something special in 1818. South Africa got its first taste of this historic Cognac in 1866 when it was imported from France.

“If life is a birthday cake let my face be smeared with its icing of Cognac and kindness.” – Aberjhani Hennessy’s Master Blender, Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, assembles his team of tasters on a daily basis – at 11am sharp! – to taste and grade the eaux de vie which go into the various products in the range. Rémy Martin also takes its name from its founder, a winegrower by trade who started his Cognac business in 1724. It remained in the family and underwent

a noticeable growth spurt in the mid1800s when Paul-Emile Rémy Martin was in charge. As its entry in Wikipedia states: “All Rémy Martin cognacs have the Cognac Fine Champagne appellation, meaning that they come exclusively from a blend of eaux de vie from the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne crus, with at least 50% of Grande Champagne. Thanks to chalky soils, these eaux de vie have great ageing potential and a particular aromatic intensity.” And then there is the one that rap singers have favoured: Courvoisier. The Cognac famously called “Vossi” by British rap phenomenon Stormzy, differs from other brands in that it didn’t start in the Cognac region – but rather in the French suburb of Bercy in Paris in 1809. With founder Emmanuel Courvoisier and partner Louis Gallois soon realising that trading other producers’ products didn’t necessarily guarantee supply or quality, so they relocated to the source. More than 200 years ago they located themselves in Jarnac near Cognac and became producers in their own right. Now owned by Japanese spirit giant Suntory, Courvoisier has long celebrated its Napoleonic connection, after all, the self-proclaimed Gallic emperor supplied his troops with their Cognac, reputedly shipped barrels of it to St Helena to tide him over during his exile and his heir, Napoleon III personally requested

the spirit in 1869 – and also deemed Courvoisier worthy of the title “Official Supplier to the Imperial Court”. Smacking of the Gordon Gekko/Wall Street school of marketing, Courvoisier flighted a commercial in 2004 which possibly epitomises the reason for Cognac’s desirability among the rap and music fraternity. Just seven words accompanied the Courvoisier XO visual: “Don’t just stand there drooling. Get rich.” Cognac is one of those products which bestows a glow on those whose tables it graces: the message being, “Check out the luxury product I can afford. I’ve made it.” In May 2020, auction house Sotheby’s sold a 258-year-old bottle of Cognac for $144 525 – or R2,75 million. One of only three bottles still with original labels, the Gautier Cognac 1762 was touted as “the oldest vintage Cognac ever to be sold at auction”.

WHAT IS COGNAC?

Cognac is a distilled spirit made from grapes. Like Champagne which is recognised worldwide as the only product of its kind because of its geographical uniqueness, this French brandy can only be called Cognac if it is grown and produced in the region of Cognac, 100km north of Bordeaux on the west coast of France.

AND THE JOSEPHINE BAKER CONNECTION? Josephine Baker, (1906 to 1975) was born in St Louis Missouri but renounced her US citizenship and became French, a bold symbol of the Jazz Age of Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. She was not only the most famous of the Folies Bergère dancers but was the first black woman to star in a movie and a noted civil rights activist.

Website Slate.com reported the following in 2013: “Cognac’s relationship with African-American consumers started when black soldiers stationed in southwest France were introduced to it during both world wars. The connection between Cognac producers and black consumers was likely bolstered by the arrival of black artists and musicians like Josephine Baker, who filled Paris clubs with jazz and blues during the interwar years, according to Dr Emory Tolbert, a history professor at Howard University. France appreciated these distinctive art forms before the United States did. For African-Americans, the elegant Cognac of a country that celebrated their culture instead of marginalizing it must have tasted sweet. Back in the States, the more common option was whiskey, a spirit made by companies that named brands after Confederate leaders or appealed to southern nationalism with labels such as Rebel Yell. It’s no wonder many African-Americans found that Cognac left a better taste in their mouths.”

The shape of things to come – Courvoisier’s sought after XO in its distinctive, voluptuous bottle.

Grapes used for Cognac tend to be slightly bitter and acidic, and the main variety is a grape called Ugni blanc. A simple base wine is made from the harvested grapes and this is then distilled twice in copper potstills to make the clear eaux de vie spirit. Much like the other “water of life” (whisky), the spirit has to undergo a period of maturation in oak (bare minimum of two years) – but the production laws stipulate that it must be Limosin or Troncais oak. (And it is during this maturation that around 3% is lost annually through evaporation – the so-called Angel’s Share.) Interestingly, in spite of the fact that Cognac has been produced since the 1700s, it was only granted delimited appellation status in 1909. This designated which were the superior (Champagne) areas, based on the soil types the grapes were grown in. Of special importance is the role of the blender in ensuring that each producer maintains its consistent House Style. This master blender has to magically weave together different batches, barrels and parcels so that consumers are given a product that tastes the same from year to year.

What does a multimillion rand Cognac taste like? Liquid history! This bottle from 1762 sold for nearly $150 000 earlier this year.

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SPIRIT |

HERE’S TO THE

LITTLE GUY THERE’S MORE TO SOUTH AFRICA’S BRANDY TRADITION THAN SPIRIT, WRITES CLIFFORD ROBERTS.

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SPIRIT |

isit the Groot Marico now and to this day you’ll find people still miffed at Paul Kruger. In their view, Kruger stiffed the little guy when he handed a monopoly on liquor production to the owners of Eerste Fabrieke and the Hatherley Distillery. What does that have to do with now? The Little Guy is really where the essence of every stook-tradition lies, including ours. Now, that beef with Oom Paul happened back in the 80s, the 1880s. Kruger struck the deal with businessman Alois Hugo Nellmapius, who was later joined by Samuel “Sammy” Marks and Barnett Lewis. Suddenly, country distillers across Kruger’s ZuidAfrikaansche Republiek (the area that’s now Gauteng/Northwest/ Limpopo/Mpumalanga) who had embraced the practice for two centuries, found themselves on the wrong side of the law. The sting of this injury remains commemorated in parts of the Marico at least, every time a shot is poured. A “kultuurtjie” (a little culture) some call it. The spirit is generally mampoer, known elsewhere in the world as fruit brandy. This was the stuff that greased social interactions. It was and, in many cases, still is, seen as an essential adjunct to hospitality. The following example, from Herman Charles Bosman (1905-1951), whose stories made the Marico’s distillers famous. The lines appeared in his book, Mafikeng Road: “We arrived at Willem Prinsloo’s house. There were so many ox-wagons drawn up on the veld that the place looked like a laager. Prinsloo met us at the door. “‘Go right through, kêrels,’ he said, ‘the dancing is in the voorhuis. The peach brandy is in the kitchen.’” To boot, the drink’s popularity gained status reserved for precious few – that of cure-all. A cultural review on the topic of folk remedies, going back to previous centuries and titled Volksgeneeskuns in Suid-Afrika (2010, Protea), lists just under 500 recipes with brandy as an ingredient. 24 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

With the unrelenting incremental tightening of liquor laws over the years – for example, with the first excise duty imposed on brandy in 1878 – it was mere supply-and-demand with a bit of nostalgia mixed in that fuelled bootlegging. In his 1973 book Brandy in South Africa, the late André Brink notes “there was a whole nest of smugglers in the Vanwyksdorp district, probably because there were no police there at the time. And this is where the bootleg wagons started off across the mountains for Albertinia and

“Port (is the liquor) for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.” – Samuel Johnson

Still Bay. But the most important smuggle routes led to the Transvaal and Namaqualand: on the latter there was even an outspan near Vredendal which was given the name Brandewynskop (Brandy Hill) because the wagons regularly halted there for a last drink or two before they started off on the dry road into Namaqualand.” By this time, brandy was already categorised by law as that produced from grapes only, requiring defined techniques, equipment and maturation. But even though brandy making has evolved dramatically, the sense of history still rings loudest from the small distillery. It’s like the tinkerers workbench versus factory process. This was where daily struggles could be retired briefly, for a moment of companionship over a glass. Paarl’s Backsberg estate is as good an example as any to conjure up the story of brandy’s Little Guys. A few years after Sammy Marks arrived in SA, so did a fellow Lithuanian Jew – one Charles Louis Back. He

was penniless, recalls great grandson Michael. “Graduating from working as a dockhand on the reclamation programme around what today is the Waterfront, he started as a bicycle delivery ‘boy’, and finally bought a butcher shop at Paarl train station. The story goes that one morning someone arrived at the shop and asked if he would be interested in buying a farm. Mr. C.L. Back thought this an excellent idea and sold the butchers shop to purchase what is today known as Backsberg Estate Cellars.” Important to this story was the farm’s brandy-making and Alembic still – a bulbous, tentacled object resembling an undersea creature. Backsberg’s first brandy release after the easing of liquor legislation, won Best Brandy in the World at the 1995 International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) in London. It was a victory for South African brandy, but quietly, a small, rare victory for the Little Guy too. Boplaas is another whose story dates to 1880, when the first brandy was made for export to London. It had to be borne by wagon from the farm in Calitzdorp, across treacherous mountain landscapes and wild territory to Cape Town harbour. It stopped for a while under government legislation, but when laws relaxed in the late 1980s, Boplaas was among the first to get its license. The result was South Africa’s first Estate Pot Still 5 Year Old Brandy, released in the auspicious year of 1994. Mons Ruber near Oudtshoorn came to the current family in 1929. Farmer-distiller and amateur historian, Radie Meyer notes that witblits (unaged brandy) became a more than useful income earner for farmers “after the collapse of the feather industry in 1913”. And so many other contemporary brandymakers have arisen. There’s Grundheim (Oudtshoorn), a farm established in 1858 with a renowned history of distillation; Bezalel (Upington), which launched brandy production under its new commercial licence in 1997 followed a year later by Upland (Wellington), home of Dr Edmund Oettlé and his wife, Elsie. German immigrant Rolf Schumacher brought together distilling tradition of his mother country with that of Wellington soon after acquiring Oude Wellington in 1995. The groundswell continued with Tokara firing up distilling in the early 2000s on a Pruhlo Alambic potstill; followed by Kingna near Montagu that put its first spirit in casks in 2007 and Die Mas (Kakamas) that bottled its first brandy in 2014. Many new labels have appeared too and while they may not have been made by the brand-owners, they capture the magic of the Little Guy’s craft. Today, little remains of Pretoria’s historic Eerste Fabrieke project. A few buildings stand derelict on open land criss-crossed by pathways between neighbourhoods of the former Group Areas township of Mamelodi. There’s a train station and a few roads named after the former grand scheme too. Brandy keeps firing though, its very significance carried forward by those talented tinkerers at distilleries, small and big.

Truly hand crafted, these spirits reflect the care and attention to detail of genuine brandy enthusiasts.

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TBWA\ Hunt \ Lascaris \ Durban\86533

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO HOSTING A

EVEN IF YOU’VE NEVER TRIED BRANDY, IT PAYS TO KNOW YOUR XO’S FROM YOUR VSOP’S. HERE’S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO ENTERTAIN WITH BRANDY AND HOW BEST TO ENJOY IT. - The need-to-knows about brandy and cognac. All cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is cognac. Cognac is a type of brandy made from distilled white wine made in one very specific region of France. Brandy, on the other hand, is “burnt wine,” or in simpler terms, a spirit distilled from fruit-based wine. Brandy can be made anywhere in the world and can be distilled from the wine of other fruits like pears and apples. The word “brandy” comes from the Dutch word “brandwijn” which means burnt wine, and over time was shortened to just brandy.

VS (Very Special): A cognac that’s aged for at least two years. VSOP (Very Superior Old Pale): A cognac that’s aged for at least four years. XO (Extra Old): A cognac that has aged ten years or more. Hors d’âge (Beyond Age): If you find a brandy with this on the label, that means it’s old - so old, in fact, that no one’s sure how old it is. Don’t ask if you should mix it with coke! For your nearest TOPS at SPAR store, phone our share call number: 0860 31 3141 or visit www.topsatspar.co.za.

Not For Persons Under The Age Of 18.

- There are a few good starting points to keep in mind. - Do a little research and you’ll find that brandies, and even cognacs, all offer varying flavour profiles that can make your tasting party super interesting and fun. Try to keep your selection to five to avoid palate fatigue. Start with your youngest and get into your strongest or smokiest flavours towards the end of the tasting. - Invest in a couple of crystal brandy snifters. They’re short and are perfect for cradling in hand to help warm the drink. Their large bowls allow the drink to be swirled and the shorter mouth traps the aromas allowing the drinker to enjoy a more prominent scent as they sip. - Start with a tiny wetting of the lips. Too much on that first sip can be overpowering and put you off ever trying again. After your taste buds have acclimatised, you can take bigger sips to fully appreciate the taste.

- If your guests are going to sample a number of brandies, start first with the youngest aged and move up through the older brandies. Always leave some of each to go back to. It is amazing how different your first taste can taste after your last one, once your nose and palate have been through them all and warmed up to tasting neat brandies.

- Because of the rich flavours in brandy, you can complement venison meat with a well-aged brandy. It will cut through

By all means, yes! Here are some fun food pairings for you to try.

the heaviness of the meat, but then combine with the long smooth finish to create an earthy combination. - When choosing fish to go with brandy, try something like a snoek, sardines or mackerel. All of them have enough oil content to hold their own with one of South Africa’s favourite spirits. - A smooth brandy is fantastic when paired with a piece of strong cheese as the cheese enhances the floral flavours of the brandy. - Brandy’s lack of acidity allows it to pair well with rich desserts, such as chocolate mousse and ice cream.

Not For Persons Under The Age Of 18.

SPIRIT OF FRANCE |

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FRENCH

FLAIR

WHY IS IT THAT THE FRENCH HAVE SUCH A KNACK FOR SOMEHOW ADDING AN AIR OF SUPERIORITY TO WHAT THEY DO? SOUTH AFRICAN BRANDIES HAVE THE INTERNATIONAL GOLD MEDALS AND TROPHIES TO PROVE THEYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE WORLD CLASS BUT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER COGNAC STILL MANAGES TO BE THE SPIRIT ASSOCIATED WITH REFINEMENT, SOPHISTICATION AND ELEGANCE.

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SPIRIT OF FRANCE |

Hennessy VS pleases the eye with its rich amber/ gold hue. The aromas of spicy cinnamon, apple and clove with a lighter note of maple syrup are reminiscent of a freshly baked pie! The flavour however has a warmth, richness and breadth with that baked apple element coated in a polished oak sheen. The alcohol is warm and adds a necessary heat to this entry level offering.

Bisquit VS offers burnished copper and gold on first view. Lovely interplay of floral whiffs with spice, vanilla and toffee on the nose. The flavours are replicated in the mouth with honeyed vanilla, oatmeal cookies, apples and apricots with a gentle coffee nuance distinguishable. Lovely long finish with a cocoa/ chocolate note to be found.

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Martell VS is tawny with ochre hints. On both the nose and the palate there are rich fruit notes to be found – along with lovely succulence and overall appeal. The fruit speaks of orchards heavy with stone fruit – plums, apricot and peaches – tinged with a subtle spice and woodsy element from time maturing in oak barrel. Subtle citrus (lemon and lime peel) note too.

Courvoisier VS Light gold in colour with aromas of spring blossom, honey and polished wood discernible. That same gentle, light oak note is apparent in the mouth, well restrained and balanced with ripe golden peach, pear along with bruised, windfall apples and spice. It’s mediumbodied with a good alcohol warmth and a touch of pepper on the tail.

Camus VS Golden with flashes of copper. Both the nose and the palate display its maturation in oak with aromas and flavours of wood shavings and deeper woodsy/vanilla elements which intermingle with lighter stewed and dried peach, prune and apricot notes. Appealing fiery warmth of spirit and medium length.

Rémy Martin VSOP Fiery amber and tawny gold colour. Subtle peach, spice and apricot aromas with hints of oak. More of the same on the palate with those orchard fruits being joined by dried fig, vanilla and caramel as well as hazelnuts and the oaky richness which underpins it. Silky smooth texture with warm, rich, lingering finish. (Rémy Martin does not have a VS, believing its top quality components from the best production areas are best suited to a VSOP style.)

“The great thing about making Cognac is that it teaches you above all else to wait – man proposes, but time and God and the seasons have got to be on your side.” – Jean Monnet, French political economist, born in Cognac

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BE THERE OR BE

SQUARE ?

THE BRIEF WAS AS SIMPLE AS IT EVER IS: FIND THE RECIPE AND A BIT OF A BACK STORY ABOUT THE GINGER SQUARE COCKTAIL. EASIER SAID THAN DONE ...

he Ginger Square appears to be a drink that the world and bartenders have almost forgotten. Which is quite sad because it’s a delicious cocktail, made with brandy, ginger liqueur and either ginger ale or ginger beer, depending on your preference, and then garnished with a slice of lemon. It appears that it’s one of those cocktails that never really stepped up into the spotlight, despite being delicious and beloved of South Africans in the seventies. One of the few references to the Ginger Square allude to it being a drink which was served on the RMS Caronia – and that’s where the cocktail research tale took a bit of a tangential turn ... Cunard is one of the world’s great shipping lines, known for their graceful oceangoing vessels the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. But the first vessel which was a true cruise liner was the RMS Caronia – the one with the Ginger Square on its cocktail list! Known as the Green Goddess because of her original green paint job, she was the vessel which kick-started the entire cruise industry at a time when shipping served a practical purpose in moving people from one continent to another. Sailing from Southampton to New York or Cape Town or Sydney was mainly about getting from Point A to Point B as fast as possible – until the RMS Caronia came along and changed things. She differed from the other vessels on the Transatlantic run in that she had a swimming pool, for example, along with bathroom or shower facilities in every cabin – and there were only two classes: First and Cabin. Leisure and relaxation were part of the voyage, not speed to the destination. Interestingly, RMS Caronia was one of the largest vessels built in Scotland immediately after World War II at 34 000 tons – and Wikipedia reports that was the case until the Queen Elizabeth II was built in 1967. In an interesting parallel she was also launched by Princess Elizabeth – later to become Queen Elizabeth 2 – in October 1947, in one of her final engagements before marrying Prince Phillip! RMS Caronia boasted nine decks with the promenade deck 665 feet long and was capable of a 22 knot top speed. But she also had more than her share of mishaps ... She was a singlefunnelled vessel, the largest funnel recorded – but it could cause

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problems handling the steering in high winds. The first world cruise was undertaken in 1951, calling at 30 ports during the voyage. While in the Suez Canal she ran aground for an hour near the El Ferdan Bridge. Then there was a fire during her annual refit at a Liverpool shipyard. Four years later, in June 1956, she again got stuck, this time grounding on a sandbank outside Messina, Italy. The RMS Caronia decided to amend the route she cruised, crossing the Atlantic from New York to Cape Town before returning via Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Cunard became embroiled in a lengthy legal battle when the Caronia demolished a light tower at the mouth of the Port of Yokohama on her second around-the-world voyage in 1958! The ship was sold and spent some years languishing in New York harbour before she was sold for scrap – but while being towed to Taiwan to be cut into pieces, she came adrift and washed ashore in Guam ... partially blocking the Apra Harbour! To make matters worse, she settled alongside a Korean landing craft which had sunk in almost the same spot. The landing craft was loaded with munitions which had to be safely removed before any work could be done on the Caronia ... Who knew that tracking down the Ginger Square would uncover an interesting story of the first cruise liner?

GINGER SQUARE 1 measure of ginger liqueur 1 measure of brandy Ginger ale Lemon zest Pour ginger liqueur and brandy into a heavy based glass. Add four ice cubes, top-up with ginger ale and insert lemon zest garnish. (Ginger beer can also be substituted for the ginger ale, along with a slight squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice. Some bartenders also float three dashes of Angostura bitters to finish off the drink.)

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BEER |

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IN THE

BALANCE LIKE THE CHARACTER IN GEORGE ORWELL’S NOVEL ANIMAL FARM, NOT ALL BEERS ARE EQUAL. SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS – AS LUCY CORNE WRITES.

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BEER |

hen lockdown – and the associated alcohol ban – was announced in March, South Africans were caught somewhat unprepared when it came to laying in supplies. Initial thoughts were on essential groceries and food stocks. (And for some folks toilet paper appeared to be an issue...) With beer being my passion, for me there was only one beverage I deemed essential: pilsner. As the weeks dragged on, I wondered if I might eventually get fed up of drinking the same beer every day, but each afternoon I looked forward to a cold one. With lockdown levels gradually being relaxed but lasting longer than anticipated, and with my stock long-since depleted, I wondered if I would still be eager to get my hands on another bottle. Or would I want something different? There is something special about an expertly-crafted pilsner. It’s a hugely quaffable beer that is great as an all-day thirst quencher,

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but which has enough complexity to work well as a pairing for anything from a delicate seafood platter to roast chicken or lightly spiced Thai snacks. In its land of origin, it is even served with heartier fare, such as beef goulash or roast pork with dumplings. THE BIRTH OF A STYLE Pilsner was born in the Bohemian town of Plzeň, now a part of the Czech Republic. Beer production here has a long pedigree, kicking off with burgherbrewers back in medieval times. Those with a licence could brew and sell from their homes, but quality was hit or miss and by the 19th century the beer-drinking public was tired of having to pour their newly-bought beer straight down the chamber pot. Legend has it that in 1838, Plzeň’s citizens had had enough and in a bold statement to half-hearted brewers, they collectively dumped out 36 barrels of sub-par ale into the square for all to see.

Shortly afterwards they joined together to start a brewery: all they needed was an accomplished brewer, and for this they looked to their beer-loving neighbour to the west: Bavaria. Bavaria had become known for their crisp beers, aged in caves in a process known as lagering, and Plzeň wanted to replicate these “lagers” rather than the heavier ales they were then used to. Enter Josef Groll, a Bavarian brewer with a suitcase full of appropriated lager yeast, and a head full of Bavarian brewing knowledge. This knowledge – and yeast – he married with the soft water of Plzeň and some new malting knowhow developed in England, which allowed for paler malts than the beer world had been used to. The result was remarkable: a crisp, bright beer with a golden hue that would have had influencers of the time rushing for their daguerreotype to capture the moment on film.

The first golden lager beer was – and still is – superb. It was named, as is often the case with Czech beers, for the city in which it was brewed and has become known globally as the original pilsner – or Pilsner Urquell. If you visit other Czech cities, you’ll find the word “pilsner” conspicuously absent from beer menus – it is reserved solely for the original. But throughout the rest of the world, the term pilsner is thrown around and often misused. Over the years, the words “pilsner” and “lager” have become largely interchangeable, at least among big beer marketing teams. PILSNER OR LAGER? It is here that things become a little confusing. You see, a pilsner is a lager, but not all lagers are pilsners. Let’s set aside for now the fact that a lager can be anything from pale yellow to deep brown, or that it can range from 2% ABV up to 15% and beyond. What most people picture when they think of a lager is the pale lager: a clear, yellow-gold beer that’s fairly muted in flavour. It is in fact the biggest-selling beer style in the world. The word lager comes from the German word lagern, meaning “to store”’. Once fermentation is complete, lagers are stored at cool temperatures for a period of two weeks to several months to create subtle, mellow flavours. Since pilsners are matured using the lagering process, and they use a “lager yeast”, then they are indeed a type of lager. So what is the

difference between a pilsner and a pale lager? It largely comes down to the ingredients – and of course the flavours they create. Pale lagers very often use adjuncts – alternative sugar sources such as rice or maize – alongside malted barley. A true pilsner should be an all-malt beer, with a grainy or bready flavour. This malt sweetness is offset by a spicy hop bitterness, providing the perfect balance that is the hallmark of a great pilsner. Although not unmanageably so, the pilsner is more bitter than a standard pale lager, its palate-cleansing finish being a major factor in making it such a drinkable style. Even within the genre, there are variations. Generally, pilsners are split into two distinct groups – Czech and German. The Czech pilsner is a little richer and more full-bodied, with a more pronounced bready malt character. The German version – often abbreviated to pils, apparently in deference to the original – is drier, paler and can have a higher perceived bitterness. Both use malt and hops from their respective homelands, giving them a sense of terroir and while this can make them tricky to replicate, many South African breweries invest in imported ingredients to try and recreate the European originals. Although there are dozens of beer styles to be found around South Africa, my first postprohibition shipment will include a case or two of crisp and brilliantly balanced pilsner.

PICKING A PILSNER IN SOUTH AFRICA

CBC Pilsner This multi-award winning German pils offers a perfect malt-hop balance. An excellent example. Woodstock Happy Pills A bready malt character and an assertive but not overpowering hop bitterness make Woodstock’s unfiltered pilsner a pleasantly complex pint. Mad Giant The Guzzler With notes of citrus and freshly cut grass, this dryhopped pils is clean and very easy to drink. King’s Craft MadKing Pilsner Another German pilsner with a beautiful floral hop note and a pleasant lingering bitterness. Impi Warrior Pilsner A less complex version that’s perfect for quenching a Jo’burg summer thirst. Hansa Pilsener Sweeter than most, Hansa does count maize in its ingredients alongside malted barley and the “kiss” of the Saaz hop – the Czech hop that is the signature of the style. Pilsner Urquell Available once again in South Africa after a long absence, Pilsner Urquell is the original and best. Caramel, floral, slightly sweet but then refreshingly bitter. Simply flawless.

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A LT E R N AT I V E D R I N K S |

ALTERNATIVES,

OPTIONS AND CHOICES THE WORLD ACCEPTS THAT LIFE AS WE KNOW IT HAS FOREVER BEEN CHANGED BY THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. IN SOUTH AFRICA, ONCE CONSUMERS HAD EXHAUSTED THEIR STOCKS OF BEER, WINE AND SPIRITS THE LOCKDOWN HAD PEOPLE LOOKING TO ALTERNATIVES. FIONA MCDONALD REPORTS.

irst there was Movember. Then there was Ocsober and finally Dry January. While Movember had men stashing their razors for a month and cultivating facial hair to highlight awareness of men’s health issues, Ocsober never really took off quite the way that Dry January did. The reason for January resonating with the great drinking public as a good idea to practice a period of alcohol abstinence was possibly a reaction to the excesses of the festive season. Although it seems so long ago, there was a distinct trend – or at least a growing awareness of Dry January in 2020. Just how many South Africans will be as eager to voluntarily engage in 2021 remains to be seen but there’s no doubt that as a result of the ban on liquor sales during lockdown, people are far more aware of the non-alcoholic options available on the market. According to statistics, the World Health Organisation has estimated South Africa’s consumption of liquor at 11 litres per capita – but that figure more than doubles to 27 litres per person once the under 18 portion of the population is stripped out. South Africa occupies the number 19 spot in the world’s largest liquor consuming nations. 38 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

The first ever Mindful Drinking festival held at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town in October 2019 was an early portent of how swiftly the alternative drinks market is changing. It appears that people are no longer content to simply suck on a Heineken 0.0%, alcohol-free Savanna cider or a Castle Free beer. What the Mindful Drinking festival highlighted is that there are a host of options available, including dealcoholised wine and alcohol-free spirits and distilled botanical spirits. As the festival website states: “part of a global movement, mindful drinking is for people wishing to moderate their alcohol consumption and find healthy alternatives to drinking alcohol. It does not advocate an “all-or nothing” approach to alcohol but rather encourages you to think about your attitude to alcohol and provide you with new and exciting options.” South Africa has a deplorable history of non-conformity with drink driving legislation – and the shocking statistics about the role that alcohol plays in the majority of vehicle crashes is just awful. Yet that appears to be changing. With the advent of ride sharing and lift services such as Uber, people have become far more compliant. There is a willingness to be the designated driver

and a greater acceptance of people partying without drinking. “Declining alcohol, or bringing a non-alcoholic alternative,” the Mindful Drinking website states, “is more likely to arouse curiosity or even admiration – even if it is bucking the very powerful social norm to consume alcohol.” South Africa was not the only country to ban booze sales during lockdown. Thailand, India, Greenland, Panama, the Bahamas and certain states within Mexico did the same – all in an attempt to discourage socialising and potential gender-based violence. Countries which kept the liquor pipeline open reported a noticeable uptick in online sales and home delivery, with the United States showing a 25% increase in wine sales alone during lockdown. Online liquor retailing is one of those areas of e-commerce which experts predict will be a game changer with peoples’ purchasing habits changing.

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A LT E R N AT I V E D R I N K S |

Locally, sales of the non-alcoholic premixed gin and tonic The Duchess, shot up by a whopping 150%. “It was substantial,” Johannes Le Roux, founder of The Duchess, told Business Insider. The same article notes that Signal Hill Products, makers of Devil’s Peak’s non-alcoholic beer saw a significant surge in sales, while acknowledging that much of the demand would have been from consumers who would not have previously considered alcoholfree products prior to lockdown. Marketing GM Elizanne Rauch said they’d seen a 350% increase in monthon-month sales for March and April. “We have seen a significant increase in demand for both our Devil’s Peak non-alcoholic variants Hero and Hero Twist of Citrus.” With the traditional route-to-market for these products being liquor stores, the producers did a quick pivot since the alcohol-free products are allowed to be stocked by normal retailers. “At first we were a bit sceptical that we would see any huge increase, because liquor stores are traditionally our biggest clients,” said Le Roux in the Business Insider article. “But what we’ve also managed to do working very closely with the retailers, is to move our products from the liquor stores over into the grocery stores.” And while de-alcoholised wine such as that made by Van Loveren, Robertson Winery, De Krans or Leopard’s Leap is an alternative to beer, there are a host of other options too. Who would have thought five years ago that non-alcoholic spirits could be a thing too? But they are, and following on the growing popularity of Seedlip, the world’s first distilled nonalcoholic spirit, there are a variety of local products available. Like John Ross, a honeybush inspired booze-free spirit from the makers of Barker and Quinn tonics. Or the product which baldly states what it is on its label: Sober. Ginifer Sober is produced by Angel Heart distillery in Johannesburg and they have two distinct expressions currently on the market: Ginifer Sober Dry, for fans of the London Dry style gin, and Ginifer Sober Hibiscus with its notable floral nuance which competes –guilt-free! – with the 43% alcohol by volume real gins. Abstinence Cape Spice is another non-alcoholic distilled spirit 40 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

which boasts no fewer than eight botanicals in its make up. All of this was made possible by the success of Seedlip. The Guardian newspaper reported that global drinks giant Diageo took a 20% stake in Seedlip as far back as 2016, believing the upstart could be a potential game changer. In 2019 it increased its stake to become a majority shareholder but was surprisingly coy about the amount of money it paid for the market leading venture. Its founder, Ben Branson, is the heir to a 300-year-old pea farm in Lincolnshire, north of London and the 30-something admitted that farming is dead unsexy. His experience lay with design and innovation – so doing the proverbial “out the box” thinking came naturally to him. Forbes.com reported that in 2013 he was looking for seeds to add to his vegetable patch – something other than basil, mint and rosemary. “I discovered this amazing world of botany and alchemy, and particularly a book called The Art of Distillation from 1651, that had kind of disappeared and with it many of these incredible recipes,” Branson said. Taking his inspiration from it, he tinkered around with a small copper still, refining distillations of herbs and ended up creating Seedlip. Launched in November 2015, Seedlip is a sophisticated, alternative non-alcoholic drink made via the same processes as other spirits, often using some of the same ingredients. It boasts zero calories and is sugar-free, sweetenerfree and artificial flavour-free, making a Seedlip and tonic the credible adult drink for those not drinking. Such was the hype about this new alternative drink that the first 1 000 bottle batch sold out in London’s Selfridges in three weeks, the second in three days and the third 1000 in just 30 minutes! It’s now stocked at 300 Michelin-star restaurants and the world’s top cocktail bars, hotels, restaurants and retailers across London, Barcelona, Stockholm, Berlin, Copenhagen, Milan, Stockholm, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, Melbourne and now South Africa. The range has grown from the initial two expressions – Seedlip Garden 108 which captures the essence of the English countryside with classy top notes of the

ABOVE: The label alone, with its artful depiction of peas and herbs, should be enough to entice curious drinkers to pick this distilled spirit off the shelf. handpicked peas and hay from the founder’s family farm with a complex herbal base character of spearmint, rosemary, thyme and hops and Seedlip Spice 94 which is aromatic with strong spice (Jamaican all spice berries and cardamom) and citrus (lemon and grapefruit peel) top notes and a long bitter from the highest quality barks (oak and cascarilla) – to include a third expression. The newest addition is Seedlip Grove 42 with its bold citrus styling containing orange, blood orange, mandarin, lemon, ginger and lemongrass. All are best served with tonic or as the base for martini or sour style nonalcoholic cocktails.

WHAT TO DRINK WHEN YOU’RE NOT DRINKING ... SEEDLIP GARDEN 108 AND TONIC

T all Glass – Full of Ice 5 0ml Seedlip Garden A dd a snapped pea pod T op with Fever Tree Indian Tonic SEEDLIP SPICE 94 AND TONIC

T all Glass – Full of Ice 5 0ml Seedlip Spice T op with Fever Tree Indian Tonic G arnish with a Red Grapefruit Twist ROCK SHANDY

S oda Water L emonade (or ginger ale) 5 -10 dashes of Angostura Bitters L ime wedge 1F ill a highball glass with ice and equal parts soda water and lemonade/ ginger ale 2 Add 5-10 dashes of Angostura Bitters 3 Add a twist of lime and you’re done LEMON LIME BITTERS

20-26 dashes of Angostura Bitters 97ml lemon juice 70ml lime cordial 70ml sugar syrup

ABOVE: The bitters dashed on top of lemonade and soda add a spicy interest to the ever refreshing Rock Shandy. RIGHT: Cola tonic, bitters, soda water and ginger beer make the Steelworks almost a cocktail.

1 Add 20 - 26 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters to a jug, then add ice 2 Pour in 97ml freshly squeezed lemon juice, 70ml lime cordial and 70ml sugar syrup* 3 Top up with lemonade, squeeze fresh lemon wedges into the drink before adding them to the jug as garnish * In a saucepan combine equal parts sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool. STEELWORKS

97ml cola tonic Ginger beer as required 13 dashes of Angostura Bitters soda water 1 Fill a jug three-quarters full with ice and add soda water to the level of the ice. To this add 97ml cola tonic and top up with ginger beer 2 Then add 13 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters, stir, garnish with a lemon wheel and serve

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NEXT MONTH |

HOT

QUARANTINI HAPPY HOUR

BITES

BEET IT

The first snows coated the Drakensberg peaks and Maluti mountains weeks ago, additional blankets have been brought out and warm winter pyjamas with fluffy slippers are de rigeur night-time attire. Winter calls for hearty food which warms from the inside out and provides more calories for keeping the body heated. Stellenbosch wine estate Tokara suggests that now is the season for Shiraz, the spicy red. So convinced of its rightness for the winter months Tokara has even got its restaurant chef Carolize Coetzee to part with one of her precious recipes for the ultimate comfort food pairing. “Shiraz is one of those varieties that shows smoother, rounder textures on the palate than the classic Bordeaux cultivars. It is also less tannic and is thus a more flexible friend in the food pairing game,” says winemaker Stuart Botha. The new Tokara Shiraz 2018 vintage is well matched with Chef Carolize’s beetroot recipe, her autumnal take on carpaccio and an excellent side dish for game. Beetroot is both rich and earthy with subtle sweetness and caramelisation adding intense character for a perfect match with a more full-bodied red such as Shiraz. “The spiciness of the Tokara Shiraz matches the anise flavours of the fennel in this stunning beetroot dish, which in turn accentuates the red fruit characteristics of this iconic Rhône grape,” said Botha. “As a rule, beetroot pairs better with reds than with whites and one crazy thing is that the deep red colour of

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the beetroot fools the brain into believing this too,” Botha quipped. Family recipes, heirloom ingredients and memories conjured up by food, are the heart of Chef Carolize’s cooking. CHEF CAROLIZE’S SALT-BAKED BEETROOT 4 medium sized whole beetroot 800g coarse salt 3 egg whites from extralarge eggs 500g cake flour 250ml water Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 180 °C 2 B lend the salt and flour together in a food processor until fine 3 I n a mixer with a dough hook, mix the flour mixture with the egg whites and water until a dough is formed 4 W ash and dry the unpeeled beetroot 5 R oll out the dough until 5mm in thickness. Cut into big enough pieces and wrap around each entire beetroot 6 B ake in the pre-heated oven for 1 hour 7 R emove from oven and cool slightly 8 B reak open the dough crust and remove the beetroot. Discard the baked dough 9 P eel the beetroot, then rinse and dry with paper towel 10 C ool and slice the beetroot thinly Garnish: Chef Carolize tops hers with raspberry, fennel, toasted walnuts and celery.

If nothing else, South Africans have a well developed ability to make the best of a tough situation – as the recent alcohol ban during lockdown demonstrated. People made do with whatever was available – and one of the things they turned to was having a good time with family rather than friends, enjoying mocktails rather than cocktails. Fitch & Leedes, the popular and diverse range of premium mixers, helped to beat the lockdown blues with a range of virgin cocktails created in collaboration with Omniblend performance blenders and Nita West, photographer from Shutterbloggin. The range features a wide variety of mixers from club soda, lemonade, bitter lemon and ginger ale to the more trendy Cheeky Cranberry, Spicy Ginger Beer and Peach Lemonade – as well as their variety of tonic waters, from the traditional Indian tonic to hipster Pink, Blue and new coral grapefruit flavours. THE CLASSIC MOJITO 12 to 14 small mint leaves 30ml fresh lime juice 1 tbsp superfine sugar 120ml Fitch & Leedes Club Soda Method: Blend all the ingredients together and garnish with mint leaves and a wedge of lime. Serves 2. CLOUDY CUCUMBER GIN MOCKTAIL 1 large English cucumber Strips of lime zest 2 tsp raw sugar – optional 2 lemon/lime wedges Fitch & Leedes Bitter Lemon 30ml fresh lime juice Method: Place a whole cucumber with half a bottle of dry lemon into the blender (peeling optional). Run it through a fine sieve and collect the juice in a glass with ice cubes. Add in some freshly squeezed lime juice and a slice of lime. Top up with a Fitch & Leedes Bitter Lemon and garnish with lime zest and a cucumber slice. (Optional: Add 120ml gin to make a real cocktail rather than a mocktail.) CRANBERRY CREAM MOCKTAI 100ml Fitch & Leedes Cheeky Cranberry 80ml apple juice/puree 40ml lime juice 20ml cream of coconut 2 dashes grenadine Method: Fill the blender with ice cubes, add all ingredients except the grenadine and blend. Add the grenadine to the bottom of your glass and top with your cranberry cream. HOMEMADE GRENADINE 500ml xylitol 250ml frozen berries 250ml water Method: Add all ingredients to a pot and boil for 10 minutes, allow it to cool before storing in the fridge.

RAISING THE STEAKS

Cabernet Sauvignon’s natural dining partner is steak. Just as chips go with fish, bacon goes with eggs and chocolate goes with almost anything, a perfectly grilled sirloin steak and a glass of good Spier 21 Gables Cabernet Sauvignon will reassure you that all is right with the world. It’s also the reason that Spier, one of the founding members of the Stellenbosch Wine Route, have shared a recipe for a juicy, lazy-aged steak with some tasty extras that take it to the next level. The Spier recommendation is for a sirloin steak with gremolata and aubergine puree as the best accompaniment for the Cabernet Sauvignon in their premium 21 Gables range. It’s a wine packed with abundant berry fruit and subtle floral violet tones which is full-bodied, supple and rounded with structure added by some time in oak barrels. These casks also add a touch of cedar flavour which mingles with a tasty pencil lead nuance. Concentrated but richly opulent and textured. GRILLED SIRLOIN STEAK WITH ROASTED AUBERGINE PUREE AND GREMOLATA (serves 4) Ingredients: 2 large aubergines E xtra virgin olive oil (for drizzling and frying) Salt & pepper

BOWLED OVER

Cape Town’s Constantia valley is at the heart of South Africa’s wine heritage. Constantia Glen was established in 2000 and since its first wines hit the market in 2005 it has become a firm favourite. Located high on the slopes of the Constantiaberg it boasts views for miles of rolling vineyards, lush suburbia and False Bay’s chilly waters. It’s also an extremely popular venue with locals and foreigners alike. It might be a while before visitors get to sit down at its tables to drink in both the views and the wine but until then, Constantia Glen has shared its recipe for hearty goulash soup to kindle warm memories. This Austrian beef goulash is a nourishing and traditional foil to cold weather – and is a regular in the home of the owners, the Waibel family who have owned this property since the 1950s. “Our heart-warming goulash soup needs a big, well-structured

red wine to clean your palate,” says winemaker Justin van Wyk. The flagship Constantia Glen FIVE, a blend of five Bordeaux grape varieties, stands up well to the bold flavours of paprika and spicy beef. AUSTRIAN BEEF GOULASH SOUP Serves 4 Ingredients: 45ml (3 tbsp.) olive oil 3 (600g) medium onions, chopped 5 ml (1 tsp) garlic, finely chopped 15ml (1 tbsp.) tomato paste 15ml (1 tbsp.) paprika 2,5ml (½ tsp) ground cumin 2,5ml (½ tsp) marjoram 2,5ml (½ tsp) thyme 2 ,5ml (½ tsp) cayenne pepper (optional) 250g boneless, cubed beef 60ml (¼ cup) red wine 1ℓ (4 cups) warm beef stock 3 (660g) medium potatoes, peeled and diced

1 small bunch Italian parsley (finely chopped) 1 clove garlic (finely grated) Rind of one small lemon (finely grated) 250 g sirloin steak (per person) Y our choice of pan-fried greens for serving – tender stem broccoli is a good choice Method: Preheat the oven to 230 °C. Use a fork to poke holes here and there across the aubergines. Place the aubergines on a wire rack on top of a baking tray lined with foil, then roast for 1 hour. Remove and leave to cool slightly, then peel carefully and discard the blackened skins. Transfer the tender flesh to a blender or small processor, add a splash of olive oil and season with salt & pepper, then process to a smooth puree. Set aside. For the gremolata: Mix the chopped parsley, garlic and lemon rind in a small bowl and season with salt & pepper. Set aside. For the steaks: Brush the steaks on all sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a griddle pan to smoking hot, then grill on both sides for about 7 minutes in total until medium rare (or adjust to your liking). Remove the steaks and let them rest for 3 minutes. To serve, plate some warmed aubergine puree, top with rested grilled steak and pan-fried greens, sprinkle with the gremolata and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and serve at once. Salt and pepper To serve: Sour cream Chopped chives Crusty bread Method: 1 Heat the oil in a large, heavy based pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until tender for 8-10 minutes. 2 S tir in the tomato paste, paprika, cumin, marjoram, thyme and cayenne pepper. Add the beef and fry, 5 minutes. 3 Stir in the red wine and simmer, 5 minutes. Add the stock, cover and cook for 40 minutes. 4 Add the potatoes and simmer for a further 30 minutes until the potatoes and meat are fork-tender. 5 Season the soup to taste, ladle into bowls and top each portion with a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle some chives on top and serve with freshly baked bread. J U L / AU G 2 0 2 0

TBWA\ Hunt \ Lascaris \ Durban\86533

Master cheffing WITH

BRAND Y MAKES SWEET A GREAT ADDITION TO MANY RECIPES, BOTH AND SAV . OURY. CHECK OURITES OUT THESE BRANDY-INFUSED FAV

INGREDIENTS: 400g bone-in rib-eye steak 80ml brandy or cognac 240ml cream 2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp vegetable oil 2 tsp kosher salt 2 tbsp ground black pepper 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Season steak with salt and pepper. Using your hands, press the seasoning into the meat to create an even coating. 2. Heat the vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the steak to the pan and fry for 4 minutes a side for a medium-rare finish.Transfer the steak to a cutting board to rest when done. 3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the brandy to the pan. Allow the brandy to cook down for about 1 minute while using a whisk to scrape off any browned bits in the bottom of the pan. 4. Once the brandy has reduced by half, add the cream and continue to whisk until combined. 5. Add the Dijon mustard and remaining tablespoon of butter and continue to cook for 5-7 minutes until mixture begins to reduce and thicken. The final sauce should have a rich consistency and coat the back of a spoon. 6. Slice the steak into 1.5cm pieces and pour cream sauce over the top and serve. Enjoy!

Not For Persons Under The Age Of 18.

INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

400g penne pasta 250ml cream 250g mixed mushrooms, halved 125ml chicken stock 40ml olive oil 40ml butter 30ml brandy 15ml Dijon mustard 15g yellow mustard seeds 10 chicken thigh fillets, cubed 2 red onions, halved and sliced 2 sticks celery, sliced 2 cloves garlic, crushed Handful of black olives, pitted and halved Chopped parsley, to taste and extra for garnish Grated Parmesan cheese Flour, to sprinkle

1. Heat half of the oil and butter in a saucepan. 2. Add the mustard seeds. Once they begin to pop, add the onion and celery and sauté until soft. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring every now and again until the mushrooms are almost tender. Sprinkle a little flour over the mushrooms and stir well. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring. Remove from the pan and set aside. 3. Heat some more oil and butter and brown the chicken pieces, stir-frying over a high heat. Have a match or lighter ready. Pour the brandy into the pan and light. Shake the pan over the heat until the flames die down. Pour the cream and stock into the pan. Reduce the heat and add the mustard. Simmer for a few minutes until the chicken is tender. 4. Stir the mushroom mixture into the sauce. Add the olives. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture has thickened slightly. Add the parsley. 5. Cook the penne in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente. Pour and mix the chicken sauce into the penne. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan and garnished with parsley.

INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Bring stock to a simmer in a saucepan. 2. Melt the butter in a wide saucepan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onions and sauté for about 5 minutes. 3. Add the rice and stir to combine. Add brandy, bring to a boil and reduce liquid by half. This should take about 3-4 minutes. 4. Add chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring enough to keep the rice from sticking to the edges of the pan. Stir the rice almost constantly - stirring sloughs off the starch from the rice, making the creamy sauce you’re looking for in a risotto.

INGREDIENTS: 350g risotto rice 2 cups of mushrooms, trimmed and cut into halves 160ml brandy 1/3 cup of onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp fresh parsley 1.5l of chicken stock Ground pepper Salt

5. Wait until the stock is almost completely absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup. 6. This process will take about 25 minutes. The rice should be just cooked and slightly chewy. 7. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

For your nearest TOPS at SPAR store, phone our share call number: 0860 31 3141 or visit www.topsatspar.co.za.

Not For Persons Under The Age Of 18.

FOOD MEMORIES B LO G S P O T |

T E R E S A U LYA T E

THERE’S ALWAYS THAT ONE DISH WHICH IS LIKE A PORTAL TO RICH, SENSORY EXPERIENCES; OF PEOPLE, PLACES, FLAVOURS AND EVEN EVOCATIVE AROMAS – SO REAL YOU COULD ALMOST REACH OUT AND TOUCH THEM! THE RECENT ENFORCED GLOBAL HIATUS HAD THOUGHTS TURNING TO SUCH MEMORIES.

emories. Barbra Streisand sang about them “lighting the corners of her mind”. I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about the past. Places I’ve travelled, old friends, memorable meals. When I lived in London many years ago, one of the highlights was being able to take regular short trips to Europe. What an experience! It’s been about 10 years since I travelled overseas and last year, when some travel opportunities presented themselves, I decided 2020 was going to be my year to spoil myself with a bit more international exploring ... Those plans have obviously and disappointingly been put firmly on ice, and while most travel may be somewhat restricted for a while it’s possible to go on a virtual culinary trip. Doing the vicarious travel thing via the internet allows you to scour out the best places and experiences you’d like to have once the skies open up and the opportunity presents itself. I’d head to Portugal which is currently one of the hottest travel destinations going, so here are two Portuguese inspired recipes that I’m sure you’ll love! I hope that you’ll want to add trinchado to your winter menu. Trinchado is essentially a Portuguese beef stew served with fresh rolls to soak up all that lovely sauce. It’s a rich and hearty one pot meal that will definitely keep the meat lovers satisfied. Talk about classic Portuguese made easy! Dessert is inspired by the ever popular pasteis de nata, and I’ve added a little twist, of course. Crispy puff pastry cups are filled with a creamy chocolate orange custard, they’re an absolutely luscious treat. Try them. 46 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

Teresa Ulyate is a multi-tasking working mom who juggles a job, children and a blog cupcakesandcouscous.com

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B LO G S P O T |

T E R E S A U LYA T E

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BEEF TRINCHADO WITH ROLLS (Serves 2)

For the rolls: 200ml warm water 125ml warm milk 7g instant yeast 500g cake flour Pinch of salt 15ml olive oil 15ml milk, for brushing 15ml flour, for sprinkling For the trinchado: 15ml butter 600g beef cubes 10ml olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 15ml flour 10ml crushed garlic 2.5ml chilli flakes 5ml paprika 5ml dried oregano 30ml Worcestershire sauce 125ml red wine 125ml beef stock 45ml yoghurt Salt and pepper 1T o make the rolls, place the water and milk in a small jug. Add the yeast and stir. Leave to stand for a few minutes. 2 Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil followed by three quarters of the liquid. Mix together, adding more liquid as needed until you have a soft dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until soft and stretchy. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for an hour to double in size. 3 Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and pinch two sides to create a roll shape. Arrange the rolls on a lined tray and set aside for 30 minutes to rise. 4 Preheat the oven to 180ยบC. Brush the rolls with some milk and sprinkle with flour. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and cooked through. (Keep the extra rolls for lunch or pop them in the freezer.) 5 To make the trinchado, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the beef and cook over a medium heat to brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. 6 Heat the olive oil in the same saucepan. Add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes to soften. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Add the garlic, chillies, paprika and oregano. Stir and cook for another minute. 7 Return the beef to the pan. Add the Worcestershire sauce, wine, beef stock and yoghurt. Stir well, then simmer gently for 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper. 8 Dish onto plates and serve with fresh rolls.

CHOCOLATE ORANGE CUSTARD TARTS (Makes 10)

Flour, for dusting 400g puff pastry 2 large eggs 45ml demerara sugar 90ml cream 90ml milk 5ml vanilla extract 10ml finely grated orange zest 100g dark chocolate, melted Grated chocolate, to decorate 1P reheat the oven to 200ยบC and grease a muffin pan. 2 Firstly, dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll out the puff pastry and cut out 11cm diameter circles. Gather the scraps, roll them out again and continue until you have used up all the pastry. Press the pastry circles into the greased muffin tray. 3 Bake the pastry for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully press the puffed up pastry back into the muffin cups to hollow them out again. Set aside. 4 Reduce the oven temperature to 180ยบC. 5 To make the custard, place the eggs and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk together until creamy and the mixture has thickened slightly. Set aside. 6 Place the cream and milk in a small saucepan and heat until it just starts to boil. Slowly pour half of the hot milk mixture into the egg while whisking. Once combined, pour this mixture back into the saucepan. Stir the custard continuously over a low heat for 5-7 minutes until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. (Do not let the custard boil!) Remove the custard from the heat and add the vanilla extract, orange zest and melted chocolate. 7 Whisk well until combined. 8 Pour the chocolate custard into the pastry cups. Bake the tarts for 10-15 minutes until the filling has set on top but still has a slight wobble. Carefully remove them from the muffin tray and leave to cool completely. 9 Decorate by sprinkling with grated chocolate just before serving.

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TUISNYWERHEID |

EMILE JOUBERT

’N DEEGLIKE

BROODJIE KOEK BAK VERG MOEITE – EN ’N SEKERE VAARDIGHEID. DAAR MOET MOOI GEMEET EN GEWEEG WORD. EN DIT IS OOK BELANGRIK OM NIE TE VEEL TE PEUTER NIE. DAAR IS ’N LES GELEER ... HOU DIT EENVOUDIG.

ulle praat van bak en brou, maar tydens die grendeltyd tuis besef ek bak en verbrou is eerder my forte. Soos mens op sosiale media kon sien, die hele wêreld het tydens die “lockdown” aan die bak gegaan. En synde nog nooit aangespoor om daardie kuns te probeer bemeester nie, wend ek toe self ’n paar pogings aan om die eeueoue kuns van bak onder die knie te probeer kry. Om te sê dat hierdie pogings misluk het, is soos om te sê die Titanic het ’n onsuksesvolle vaart oor die Atlantiese Oseaan gehad. My gebakte piesangbrood het soos ’n half-ontplofde landmyn gelyk – en erger geproe. ’n Waardige poging om suurdeegbrood te bak het gelei tot ’n kors waarmee mens ’n koedoe harsingskudding met ’n raakgooi kon gee. Franse brode, die resep noukeurig gevolg, het uitgeloop op balke wat soos bofbalkolwe gelyk het. Nee, het ek besef, bak wil nie my vriend wees nie. Miskien is my liggaamsenergie nie eens in harmonie met die misterieuse manier waarmee deeg gis en rys en lug kry om tot ’n eetbare, gerysde heerlikheid te verander nie. Net voordat ek my mengbak, voorskoot en houtlepel opgeoffer het in die vlamme van ’n vroegwinter kaggel, word daar deur ’n simpatieke vriendin ’n resep gestuur. Vir ’n potbrood. Nie net sal dit rys en bak nie, is ek gewaarborg, maar daar kom bietjie ekstra geur en tekstuur by om van die brood ’n hele maaltyd op sy eie te maak.

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HY LOOP SO: 5 00 g bruismeel 5 ml sout 2 50 ml gerasperde cheddarkaas 1 x 340 g blikkie mielies 5 sprietuie, fyngekap 8 songedroogte tamaties, fyngekap 1 ½ blikkies bier (340 ml blikkie) MAAK SO: 1 Reg, nou verhit jy die oond tot 180 °C. 2 Meng die meel, sout en kaas in ’n groot mengbak. Voeg die mielies, sprietuie en tamaties by. 3 Nou kom die bier by. Bewerk als deur tot ’n beslag, en as dinge te droog raak, waps nog ’n bietjie bier by. 4 Smeer ’n swaarboomkastrol (18cm in deursnee) met botter. Plaas jou deegbeslag in die pot. Sien – geen knie, rys, afknie, opsê van rympies nie ... net so. 5 Maak seker die oond is warm tot 180°C. Sit jou kastrol in die oond, deksel af. En bak vir een uur. Haal die oond uit, laat afkoel vir 5 tot 10 minute en dop die kastrol om om jou gebak te laat uitdop. Perfek vir ’n bykos, of met ’n smeersel botter is dit ’n maaltyd op sy eie. Dieselfde proses kan in die buitelug gevolg word. Skraap kole onder jou pot in, sit die deksel op en plaas kole bo-op. Bestuur net jou hitte dat die kole nie afkoel nie. Omdat die hitte nie so bestendig is soos ’n oond nie, sal jy bietjie oefening moet insit om jou geskikte temperatuur en tyd te kry. Maar dis wat bak blyk te wees. Oefening, probeer, aanhou. Nog 10 jaar, dan beweeg ek na piesangbrood. Watch my.

Emile Joubert is a PR practitioner by profession, but a food and wine enthusiast by desire. Check out his blog: www.winegoggle.co.za

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B O O K G I V E AWAY |

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THE POWER

OF ONE AS AUTHOR CHANTAL LASCARIS SAID IN AN INTERVIEW, WHEN YOU THINK OF ONE POT COOKING IT TENDS TO BE WINTER FOOD – HEARTY CASSEROLES, STEWS OR EVEN POTJIES. BUT IT NEEDN’T BE THE CASE AS SHE SO ABLY DEMONSTRATES IN ALL SORTS OF ONE-DISH WONDERS.

ashing up, the bane of every cook’s life. You don’t have to be a domestic goddess to hate either putting your hands into a sinkful of dirty dishes or even stacking a dishwasher because you have to unpack it again later. It’s a schlepp! Chantal Lascaris cheerfully admitted that she’s a messy cook “and I basically wrote this as a way of minimising the mess in the kitchen!” In an interview on CliffCentral.com to coincide with the launch of her book she likened her post cooking kitchen to something “an army of zombies have gone through ...” Already the author of two other easily digestible recipe books (All Sorts of Salads and All Sorts of Healthy Dishes) Lascaris proves that simplifying things while simultaneously keeping them healthy and light is not that difficult. From breakfast through to dinner and dessert there is a wealth of options and recipes. Eggs, mushroom, sausage – all in one pan – makes starting the day a real doddle! All Sorts of Healthy Dishes was featured in CHEERS in January 2018 and was notable for the way it drew on her experience of entertaining, her interest in health and nutrition and ability to share tips and great ideas using locally sourced ingredients.

The most important message Lascaris wanted to get across was that relaxed, flavourful food can have an added health benefit. Once again she has taken inspiration for the recipes featured in her third book from her travels. The Mediterranean diet remains her touchstone. “It’s not a diet – it’s a healthy way of eating.” Yet she has not stuck to traditional Mediterranean flavour profiles, adding Asian touches to bring the dishes alive. Flavours which are fresh and lively but still supremely healthy – and easy to prepare! Since people buying recipe books almost do so by eating with their eyes first, the photography is as important as the recipes. Lascaris pre-empted criticism by the naysayers by assuring everyone that each image was cooked or prepared fresh and then snapped before being eaten by the crew, friends and family. “There was no image manipulation or fakery whatsoever. It’s all genuine,” she told Gareth Cliff. Lascaris also added a top tip for shopping smartly: “Don’t buy anything that’s tempting! I can hear the chocolate in the cupboard calling and it doesn’t stop until I’ve eaten it ... And when you are making meals for yourself or your family, they must be balanced. Protein, carbs and fruit and veg. Keep it healthy.”

TEMPTING TERIYAKI BACON AND BANANA

Teriyaki is from the Japanese words “teri”, which means gloss or lustre, and “yaki”, which means to fry or sear. It’s a popular marinade made from a combination of soy sauce, ginger and other flavourings. Here the bacon is marinated in the teriyaki sauce, creating a tangy flavour that contrasts well with the sweetness of the caramelised banana. Sweet and sour at its best.

STOVE TOP – PAN

4–6 rashers bacon 2–3 Tbsp teriyaki sauce 4–6 English muffins, sliced in half 1 tsp olive oil 2–3 bananas, sliced lengthwise 1 tsp honey 4–6 Tbsp cream cheese 1 Marinate the bacon rashers in the teriyaki sauce for about 20 minutes. 2 In a heated pan, toast the sliced muffins on both sides until browned. Remove and keep warm. 3 Into the same pan, add the oil and fry the bacon until almost ready. Add the bananas to the pan, drizzle the honey over and fry until the bananas start to caramelise. 4 Spread the cream cheese over the muffin bases, place the bananas and bacon on top and finish off with the other halves of the muffins. 5 Serve immediately.

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B O O K G I V E AWAY |

MOROCCAN-STYLE LAMB SHANKS WITH CHICKPEAS

This hearty, slow-cooked lamb dish is meltingly tender and full of smooth and spicy north African flavours. Many Moroccan dishes are all about the spices and this dish is no exception, from the cumin and nutmeg to the coriander and cinnamon. Adding dried apricots and chickpeas gives you a meal with strong, fragrant taste combinations. As each shank is one portion, serving is a breeze. STOVE TOP – LARGE POT WITH LID (OR A TAGINE)

OH SOLE LA MED

So deliciously unexpected, these Mediterranean flavours come together to create a tasty combination that sings (the way you’re humming right now!). The chickpeas mix beautifully with the succulent tomatoes and tangy garlic, all while complementing the delicate, sweet flavour of sole. Finished off with some almonds and lemons, this quick dish is perfect to serve at any elegant luncheon or summer dinner. STOVE TOP – PAN

½ cup finely chopped onion ½ tsp minced garlic 2 tsp olive oil 1 x 400g can tomatoes 4 Tbsp red wine vinegar 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed salt and pepper to taste 4–6 individual whole soles 2 Tbsp cake flour 3 Tbsp roasted, slivered almonds 2 lemons, cut into wedges 1 In a large pan, fry the onion and garlic in the oil until softened. Add the tomatoes, vinegar and chickpeas and stir together. 2 Season the soles and sprinkle the flour over both sides of the fish, then add to the tomato and chickpea mixture. Cook for approximately 4 minutes, depending on the size of the soles. Turn them over and cook until done. If the tomato and chickpea mixture looks a little dry, add a touch of water and stir through. 3 Scatter the almonds over the soles and garnish as desired. Serve with the tomato and chickpea mixture on the side, along with the lemon wedges. 54 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

1 onion, chopped 1 tsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 tsp ground cumin 4 tsp harissa blend 2 tsp ground coriander ½ tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp ground cinnamon 100g tomato paste 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes 3 cups chicken stock 4–6 lamb shanks (depending on size) salt and pepper to taste 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1 cup chopped carrots (or whole if preferred) 3 green peppers, roughly chopped 8 dried apricots, halved 2–3 Tbsp slivered almonds, roasted 4 Tbsp fresh coriander 4 Tbsp plain yoghurt 1 Preheat the oven to 170°C. 2 Add the onion, olive oil and garlic to a large pot and sauté until the onion is softened and starting to brown. Stir in the spices and toast for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and stock. Allow to simmer for a few minutes. 3 Season the lamb shanks generously with salt and pepper and add to the pot. Stir to ensure that the shanks are well coated. Cover partially with the lid. (If using a tagine, cover with the conical lid.) Simmer for approximately 2½ hours, turning the shanks occasionally to keep them moist (the dish will be ready when the meat falls off the bone). Add the chickpeas, carrots, green peppers and apricots. Stir to combine and simmer for a further 30 minutes. 4 Sprinkle with the almonds and coriander and serve with the yoghurt.

WIN

A COPY OF WALL SORTS OF ONE-DISH WONDERS. To qualify, send an e-mail or a postcard clearly marked Cheers Book Giveaway and containing your name, ID number, physical address (not a PO Box please!) along with a contact telephone number to qualify for the lucky draw. ADDRESS: cheers@cheersmag.co.za or Cheers, PO Box 259, Rondebosch 7701. ENTRY DEADLINE: 15TH AUGUST 2020 See T&Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on pg 04 LIKE us on www.facebook.com/CheersMag to double your chance of winning.

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NEWS DIARY VIRTUAL TASTING

The country’s lengthy lockdown had people getting used to doing things at home: working from home, home schooling, virtual meetings with business colleagues as well as catching up with friends and families via tablet, PC or mobile device. So it’s not that big a stretch to do a virtual wine tasting – and many people around the world did. But South African wine farm Steenberg decided to keep the trend going once the country stepped down to Level 3 and reopened sales of liquor. Steenberg decided to offer online consumers virtual tasting packs because the in-person and in-situ tasting experience was still deemed dangerous to the spread of the coronavirus. Cellarmaster Elunda Basson provides a stepby-step walk-through of

the wines in each of the various tasting packs on offer by means of video clips. Included in each tasting pack is a luxurious brochure guiding you through the full Steenberg wine experience complete with tasting notes, winemaking information and food pairing suggestions. There are three different tasting selections on offer. There’s a Classic which is very general in its scope and offers something for everyone: a bubbly, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé and three reds. Since Steenberg has a serious focus on making sparkling wine the second pack offers a variety - from the Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc, through to the elegant Méthode Cap Classique range all the way to the flagship bubbly, Lady R. The third and final pack is potentially a great gift idea for someone who is really keen on wine. It’s a splurge and comprises the Flagship Tasting Selection. Wine geeks will love the diversity of the wines on offer, all very special and from unique grapes and vineyards – like the Nebbiolo, a natural sweet Semillon and the iconic Catharina red blend. For further details and prices visit: www.steenbergfarm. com/buy-wine-online/

DELHEIM’S DECADE OF MUSHROOMS

Actually getting out into the forests on the Simonsberg slopes during Delheim’s annual mushroom forage is possibly the biggest drawcard of the event. Due to travel and coronavirus restrictions the Stellenbosch wine producer was unable to celebrate its decade of mushroom foraging but the ever-dynamic Sperling family soon came up with an alternative plan. After all, they still had wine – and mushrooms! Usually booked up well in advance, this special event traditionally teaches the handful of folks lucky enough to attend all about mushroom identification before heading out to put the lessons learned into practice. The day usually ends with a hearty, mushroom themed meal in the Delheim restaurant with ample wine to be enjoyed. This year, Delheim re-fashioned the event by releasing an exceptional Wild Mushroom Experiencein-a-box. Filled with tastes and textures that capture the spirit of the occasion, the boxes were available from 8 June, from the winery’s online shop while stocks last. As Nora Sperling Thiel recalled, when begun 10 years ago people weren’t familiar with mushroom foraging. “It took three years before we could get enough people together as interest grew,” she said. So what’s in the Delheim Wild Mushroom Experience-in-a-box? Each box contains the book, Field Guide to Mushrooms & Other Fungi of South Africa by Gary Goldman and Marieka Gryzenhout. Gary co-hosted forages with Nora Thiel at Delheim for years; bottle of Delheim Chenin Blanc Wild Ferment 2019; Sauvignon Blanc 2019 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2016; dried porcini mushrooms, parmesan cheese and risotto rice plus added extras to make your meal exceptional; and, a recipe card to help perfect your mushroom risotto. The online shop can be viewed at https://www.delheim.com/shop-online/.

MASTERING WINE

The Institute of Cape Wine Masters (ICWM) has four new members in its ranks after the latest crop of students were awarded their special qualifications virtually during the national coronavirus lockdown. The addition of Durbanite Karen Bloom, Wanda Cronje of Durbanville, Groot Constantia winemaker Boela Gerber and Lisha Nelson of Paarl wine estate, Nelson, brings the tally of Cape Wine Masters to 106. The quartet had to complete a tough series of assignments, exams (written and practical tasting assessments) as well as submit a dissertation on a chosen topic. The dissertations included studies into the spoilage yeast brettanomyces, the use of ovoid or egg-shaped vessels in winemaking, the rise of Prosecco appreciation in South Africa and a look at what constituents in wine posed health risks. In his address at the virtual graduation, outgoing chairperson De Bruyn Steenkamp said that more than 200 000 wine enthusiasts have attended the lectures and training programmes of the Cape Wine Academy, a wine education and industry service initiated by Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery (now Distell) in 1979 as part of its plan to grow wine knowledge and appreciation.

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SOCIAL MEDIA |

HEALTHY EATING THERE ARE MANY LOCKDOWN TALES BEING TOLD OF BAKING BANANA BREAD, LOAVES OF SOURDOUGH AND VARIOUS OTHER THINGS FOLKS NORMALLY DON’T HAVE TIME FOR. BUT ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES, SO HERE ARE A FEW APP SUGGESTIONS BY DR WINNIE BOWMAN FOR GETTING TO GRIPS WITH A HEALTHY EATING PLAN. CALORIE COUNTER BY FATSECRET

FatSecret is a user-friendly calorie counter and effective weight loss and dieting app – and is customized for each country’s foods and brands. FatSecret is fast, simple to use and includes integration with external tools and services to help users succeed with their diets. Keep track of the food, exercise and weight, using the world’s highest quality food and nutrition database and connect with a global community of people looking to make a change for the better and start losing weight. It’s all about achieving goals in a healthy manner. It includes an exercise diary, diet calendar, weight tracker and journal to record any progress. The app is compatible with Apple watch and FitBit platforms.

NUTRITION DIET FOR BLOOD TYPE

Don’t B-negative, B-positive ... In recent years many more people have begun to follow diets according to their blood group – both for weight loss and healthy living. There are a host of articles and product recommendations, and it’s possible to calculate individual fat ratio, body mass ratio and ideal weight. The core of the nutritional list is based on the important relationship between what we eat, our blood group, and our health by consuming the right foods suitable for the relevant blood group. This platform has been developed for informational purposes only and does not prescribe a specific diet, but foods are categorized according to suitability for the different blood groups.

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CALORIEGUIDE FOOD NUTRITION & SHOPPING

CalorieGuide gives you perfect insight into all your daily food choices. This app bundle provides something for everyone: calorie guides for fresh food and produce; restaurant and fast food and supermarket shopping. Search for any food type like “McDonalds chicken” or “egg yolks”. Slide a finger to change the portion size and see how the nutrient values change by following the coloured graphs. Should you want to see the breakdown between fat, carbohydrates and protein, just scan the pie chart and see how it adjusts with every item selected.

BLOOD SUGAR

This is a very handy app – and not just for people with diabetes or at risk of potentially developing type 2 diabetes. The all important thing is to learn how to balance your blood sugar, avoid sugar-highs and dips to address the root cause. This app was developed by a team of holistic nutritionists, backed by science to help any individual to take control with the right nutrition, supplements as well as lifestyle techniques. Features include top low-glycaemic foods (what to avoid and what to replace it with); 7-day mealplan with 21 recipes, snacks and beverages; lifestyle tips, techniques and practices; plans and shopping lists exportable in PDF format. A relevant app for folks who are prediabetic, have type 2 Diabetes, or are prone to either hyper- or hypoglycemia.

View our classic Coq au Vin recipe at :

Thank goodness for unforgettable classics

www.spar.co.za/Coq-au-Vin

Not much beats a classic homemade Coq au Vin dish, especially when you can get all the finest and freshest ingredients required from SPAR - Freshline Mushrooms, Garlic, Herbs, crisp Ciabatta, fantastically fresh SPAR Skin Pack Chicken and a versatile Olive Brook Chenin Blanc. Cook to perfection and savour with your favourite Olive Brook wine from TOPS at SPAR.

thank goodness itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freshline

Alcohol Not For Persons Under The Age Of 18.

FISHING |

CORONA

MOMENTS IS IT THE ACT OF FISHING, OR THE ANTICIPATION OF HOOKING AND LANDING A WRIGGLY FINNED CRITTER THAT BRAD CARTWRIGHT MISSES MOST?

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Long dry grasses in their tawny winter garb and mirror-still cold dam waters hold immense allure for the deprived recreational fisherman.

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FISHING |

ishermen, rock and surf, fresh and seawater alike, found themselves in the same boat – so to speak – as golfers, gym bunnies, rugby and soccer players and surfers; sitting and standing idly by while wondering how it was OK for 50 churchgoers to gather while we were unable to enjoy our recreational pursuits in the battle to combat the coronavirus. Our business is built around recreational angling – which is obviously not an ideal scenario since the lockdown was announced way back in March. (To date there have been no known instances of fish being infected by Covid 19 – but perhaps that’s just because the test kits are faulty.) What is interesting, however, is how a tiny virus, which seems to me to have been badly overestimated, has shone a light on how much we

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all take fishing for granted – and how much we miss it when it’s denied us. Even before the dreaded Corona raised its ugly spiky little head, I had pondered at some length on whether it’s the actual catching of fish that we miss – the primal hunt and ability to catch food – or whether it’s simply the joy of being in the majestic outdoors, often with likeminded mates, frequently with a wellstocked cold box, but always with the “potential” of catching a fish. As firm catch-and-release fishermen, we very seldom kill and eat the fish we catch anyway. So it’s not about the macho image of arriving home to the missus and proudly slapping a large halibut onto the kitchen table saying: “There you go darling! Your trusty provider does it again. Clean and cook this and call me when my dinner’s ready.” In all likelihood in these liberated and

evolved times this would earn you a cold shoulder rather than a hot meal anyway … If we were fishing commercially and selling our catch to keep paying the school fees, and possibly medical fees, if we tried the old halibut slapping trick too often, that would be a different thing. But that’s not what we do. We spend many happy hours, cold beverage in hand, discussing and planning with our mates the next big fishing trip. I estimate this aspect of a proposed trip actually occupies as much time, and possibly even provides as much enjoyment, as the actual excursion itself. There’s something wonderful about all this planning and the anticipation building up to an official outing. Having your mind occupied with checklists of what gear to pack, not forgetting about those last flies or

A trout fisherman’s idea of heaven: alone in a float tube on the water of a well-stocked dam in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. Which fly to choose, a dry floater like Duckworth’s Dargle Delight, or a wet streamer fly like the Woolly or Fritz Bugger?

lures you don’t really need, but do really want because they might just come in handy, is a beautiful thing. Just remember not to whistle or hum a tune while you pack within earshot of the family before you finally head off to your destination. Sure, the fishing trip itself is always fun, but expectations very often outweigh the results in this most fickle of pastimes, and the liver inevitably suffers a bit. There will be moments of great hilarity, anguish and camaraderie, stories to be saved and savoured around the pub for many years to come. But does it really matter who catches the fish, or even if the fishing is slow? Let’s be brutally frank: ego invariably plays a part and we’d all like to be the one to catch the biggest fish, or the most fish, or the most species. But in this sport, much more than most, luck plays a

I will happily wander alone – or occasionally with my dog – along one of our local river banks of an evening, searching for an elusive rise; I treasure those moments of solitude.

substantial role. I have stood shoulder-toshoulder with some of the best anglers around and whilst they will often catch more fish, it’s not a given that they will catch a bigger one. That alone is enough to keep

us hopeful amateurs coming back. While I will happily wander alone – or occasionally with my dog – along one of our local river banks of an evening, searching for an elusive rise, I treasure those moments of solitude. Yet I must concede that, for me, a really good fishing trip definitely involves the aforementioned mates (with egos), cold boxes and the potential of catching fish. Not much more than that. And I have complete faith that while the Ministry of Co-operative Governance has a plan to defeat the pandemic, neither the virus nor lockdown levels will keep us away from the water for too long, regardless of whether that water is salty or fresh. Until then, I will daydream about the what and where and think about the kit I’ll need for the expedition. J U L / AU G 2 0 2 0

E N T E R TA I N M E N T |

SPICE AND VARIETY FROM FAST JETS WITH AFTERBURNERS BLASTING TO NEON-COLOURED TROLLS REPRESENTING ROCK, JAZZ, CLASSICAL AND POP MUSIC, THERE IS ENTERTAINMENT FOR EVERYONE – ALONG WITH SOUND SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES ABOUT THE TIES OF COMMUNITY VERSUS SELFISH INTERESTS.

TO P G U N : M AV E R I C K

top pick “Have to admit, I wasn’t expecting an invitation back,” Captain Pete Mitchell says. “They’re called orders, Maverick,” is the droll response. 34 years on from the hit movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise is back in an aviator’s G suit, piloting an F/A-18 Super Hornet – and still feeling the need for speed! The follow-up to the phenomenally successful 1986 original has been a long time in the making. The film was scripted in 2010, budget of $152 million finalised but filming began in May 2018, completed in 2019 – but its June 2020 release was set back to December 2020 because of the global pandemic. Ever the outsider, Cruise’s character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell has successfully escaped promotion and higher rank which would see him piloting a desk rather than a multi-million dollar supersonic jet. He’s invited/ordered to return to flight school to train the next generation of naval aviators in aerial combat – and among them is the son of his former partner, The Goose. Miles Teller plays the role of Rooster, an appropriately cocky young rocket jockey. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said the movie is about family, friendship and sacrifice and is a love letter to aviation. Filming was kept as authentic as possible with top naval aviators accommodating up to six IMAX quality cameras in the cockpit, and flying off US aircraft carriers. “This kind of aviation movie will probably never be made again ...”

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T H E H I G H N OT E Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross), a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie (Dakota Johnson) is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running errands, but still aspires to her childhood dream of becoming a music producer. When Grace’s manager (Ice Cube) presents her with a choice that could alter the course of her career, Maggie and Grace come up with a plan that could change their lives forever. Ellis Ross, the daughter of Motown legend Diana Ross, has made a name for herself as an award-winning comedy actress in both Black-ish and Girlfriends. In this starring role she demonstrates her dramatic versatility, singing the newly released single “Love Myself” as well as nailing the role of a 40-something star stuck in a rut touring the world but wanting to stretch herself creatively. The movie was set for theatre release but like so many films affected by theatre closures, it was released as video on demand at the end of May.

TROLLS WORLD TO U R Who knew that a computer animated Trolls movie would set new records right in the middle of a pandemic? It’s what Trolls World Tour did with its digital/streaming release and has been directly credited with many studios embracing online release and downloads of movies which were set for theatre release. That success led to Universal announcing that they would be looking into doing more simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases. The Trolls World Tour movie is a sequel to the 2016 Trolls film. The story goes that all Trolls lived in perfect harmony, and six strings on an unbreakable lyre bound their musical multiverse together. The Pop Trolls, as well as the ones from the tribes of Country, Techno, Classical, Rock and Funk explored their wildly innovative music and lyrics and flexed creative muscles surrounding their belly jewels. But things start to fray and the different musical genres feel neglected. It’s up to the newly crowned Queen Poppy to set off on a quest to reunite the tribes. Listen out for the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Sam Rockwell, Kelly Clarkson and even Mary J Blige and Ozzy Osbourne as a Rock Troll, Thrash!

A C E L E B R AT I O N OF ENDINGS BIFFY CLYRO Biffy Clyro have announced the delay of their ninth album A Celebration of Endings, admitting they felt uncomfortable about releasing the record during the coronavirus outbreak. A Celebration Of Endings will now arrive on August 14 instead of May 15 as originally planned. “With all of the turmoil and anxiety that the coronavirus situation is causing in everyone’s lives, we decided that it would have felt wrong to have continued with our original release plan,” a statement from the band reads. “The whole album represents us as a band and society as a whole,” frontman Simon Neil told NME. “We need to learn from the good, the bad and the ugly. We can make a better world for everyone. That sounds so drippy, but it’s within our power. There are good people in the world. We have a song on the album called ‘The Champ’ that talks about ‘the grey man’s curse’. So often, decent people don’t pipe up. Empty vessels make the most noise. It doesn’t reflect what’s going on in any situation.”

DISCLAIMER: All books featured here are supplied by Penquin Random House South Africa

NONE OF US ARE GETTING OUT OF THIS LIFE ALIVE THE STREETS WHOOSH! DEEP PURPLE Four years after Deep Purple’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and three since their last album, the group will release its 21st LP, Whoosh!, later this year. Once again, the band collaborated with producer Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd) for the record, which will come out digitally, on CD and deluxe CD, or double-vinyl editions. The deluxe editions will come with a one-hour film of bassist Roger Glover in conversation with Ezrin, who produced the group’s last two albums, as well as a video of the band’s full performance at 2017’s Hellfest. The band says its motto for the sessions was, “Deep Purple is putting the Deep back in Purple.” “We’ve included everything that made the whole band smile, including Bob Ezrin,” guitarist Steve Morse said in a statement. “We’ve always enjoyed making music and having the incredible luxury of a loyal audience.”

18 years since the release of The Streets‘ era-defining Original Pirate Material, and Mike Skinner’s back pushing boundaries and making big beautiful beats. Aside from a few casual releases, he’s spent the past few years DJ-ing, but on July 10 he’ll release None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive, his first full body of work since 2011’s Computers and Blues. The record features guest spots from an all-star cast including – deep breath – Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Ms Banks, IDLES, Greentea Peng, Jimothy Lacoste, Donae’O, Hak Baker and more. Somehow he managed to create a socially distanced music video for the Parker track “Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better”, which is quite the achievement. In an official statement, the Birmingham-based Skinner shared that one of the biggest themes on his mixtape revolves around communication (or lack thereof) in this overlyconnected modern world. “One thing I’ve ended up doing is talking about being on my phone,” he said. “It was very easy on my first album to say, well: where am I? I’m in a pub. I’m at home. I’m getting a kebab. It felt fairly straightforward and no one had really written about it. Whereas when making this record, everything now basically happens on your phone.”

R E D H E A D BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD ANNE TYLER

AFTERLAND LAUREN BEUKES In a future where most of the men are dead, Cole and her twelveyear-old son Miles are on the run from the most dangerous person she knows … her sister. Miles is one of the lucky survivors of a global pandemic. But, in a world of women, that also makes him a hot commodity. The Department of Men wants to lock him away in quarantine, forever, maybe. A sinister cult of neon nuns wants to claim him for its own; the answer to their prayers. And boy traffickers are close on their heels, thanks to Billie, Cole’s ruthless sister, whom Cole thought she left for dead. In a desperate chase across a radically changed America, Cole will do whatever it takes to get Miles to safety. Because she’s all he’s got.

Micah Mortimer isn’t the most polished person you’ll ever meet. His numerous sisters and in-laws regard him oddly but very fondly, but he has his ways and means of navigating the world. He measures out his days running errands for work – his TECH HERMIT sign cheerily displayed on the roof of his car – maintaining an impeccable cleaning regime and going for runs (7:15, every morning). He is content with the steady balance of his life. But then the order of things starts to tilt. His woman friend Cassia (he refuses to call anyone in her late thirties a “girlfriend”) tells him she’s facing eviction because of a cat. And when a teenager shows up at Micah’s door claiming to be his son, Micah is confronted with another surprise he seems poorly equipped to handle. Redhead by the Side of the Road is an intimate look into the heart and mind of a man who sometimes finds those around him just out of reach – and a love story about the differences that make us all unique.

T H E B OY F R O M THE WOOD HARLAN CORBEN Thirty years ago, a child was found in the New Jersey backwoods. Living a feral existence and with no memory of his past, the locals just called him Wilde. Now a former soldier and security expert, Wilde lives off the grid, shunned by the community – until they need him. A child has gone missing. Her family suspect she’s only playing a disappearing game. Nobody seems concerned except for criminal attorney Hester Crimstein, who contacts Wilde and asks him to use his unique skills to find the girl. But even he can find no trace. One day passes, then another, then a third. On the fourth, a human finger shows up in the mail. And now Wilde knows this is no game. It’s a race against time to save the girl’s life – and expose the town’s dark secrets …

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RESPONSIBILITY |

TAXING A

SWEET PROBLEM PROCESSED CONVENIENCE FOODS AND UNHEALTHY DIETS ARE PART OF THE REASON THE WORLD IS GETTING FATTER. BALLOONING RATES OF OBESITY AND TYPE II DIABETES IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN ARE PLACING A STRAIN ON ALREADY OVERBURDENED HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS. FIONA MCDONALD REVIEWS THE NOT-SO-SWEET PROBLEM.

n anaesthetist friend of mine wearily shook his head after sharing an all too familiar anecdote of his day. Not because of trauma or major surgery, but because he’d been at a Mitchell’s Plain hospital extracting children’s teeth. “These children are not even six years old and all their teeth are rotten – to the point where they have to be pulled. They’re kids! And what does the mother say when her groggy child is coming out of anaesthesia?: ‘Mommy will give you a lekker fizzy cool drink when we get home’.” These super-sweet carbonated cool drinks are not only contributing to soaring tooth decay but to long term health issues which accompany obesity and the development of childhood diabetes. According to the most recent research around 340 million children worldwide are considered either overweight or obese. Looked at it another way, that’s four out of every five children! Compare this to figures from 1975 in which it was one in 20. The telling difference is that children with the highest sugary drinks consumption are most likely to be overweight. South Africa is not alone in this. Chile, Malaysia, America, the United Kingdom and 66 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

Mexico all report the same thing. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver took a film crew to Mexico and the resulting documentary, Sugar Rush, formed part of his campaign to pressurise the British government into introducing a sugar tax. Oliver was horrified that there were places in rural Mexico when children as young as three years old were being fed Coca-Cola in their bottles rather than water. The nett result of this massively high sugar intake is an increase in childhood obesity and all the concordant health problems – like type II diabetes. Oliver even attended the surgical limb amputation of a diabetic patient, necessary due to bad circulation and tissue necrosis in the lower leg, all because of badly managed diabetes. Why is type II diabetes such a big deal? Because it’s costing governments the world over billions of dollars – when it could be avoided. It’s a lifestyle disease linked to sugar consumption, bad diet, lack of exercise, poor circulation and a range of resultant health problems. One of the highest risk categories for coronavirus infection and death were diabetics because of the poor blood circulation and obesity issues patients had. Never one to miss the opportunity to make his point in a practical way, Oliver visited

politicians with a crate of popular cool drinks – Coca-Cola, Ribena and others. He pointed out that there are 14 teaspoons of sugar in one can. Just one can or bottle exceeds the recommended daily allowance by some margin. (It’s nine teaspoons for adult men and six teaspoons for adult women – and less than five for children under 11.) Between March 2016 and when the sugar tax was imposed in Britain in April 2018, many manufacturers took preventive action, reducing the amount of sugar in their beverages to comply with the proposed tax levels. It was reported in the media that drinks producers used 45 000 tons less sugar to avoid the sugar tax. The British Soft Drinks Industry Levy added 24p (R5.17) on beverages containing 8g of sugar per 100ml and 18p (R3.88) a litre on those with between 5 and 8g/100ml. Hungary, France and Mexico introduced the tax in 2014. Portugal, Ireland followed suit – as did South Africa in 2018. When introduced in April 2018 after the idea was first floated in 2016, it was reported that South Africa’s market for sweet soft drinks was 4 746 million litres in 2012. Compare that with the 1998 total of 2 249 million litres. Initially the SA sugar tax was 2.1c per gram of sugar that exceeds 4g per 100ml but Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni announced in his February 2019 budget speech that this was increased to 2.21c per gram. One obvious step taken by drinks manufacturers in South Africa – which, incidentally was the first country in Africa to introduce this sugar tax – was to reduce the volume of cool drinks being sold. That’s why the cans went from 330 or 340ml to 300ml. Because of that, nearly 50c of the price of a 300ml can of Original Taste CocaCola is sugar tax. The breakdown is as follows: with 4g per 100ml “free” the amount of sugar remaining in the 300ml can which contains a total of 33g of sugar is taxed – so 21g at 2.21c per gram, is 46.4c per can. The same can of Less Sugar Coke with “only” 24g of sugar in its 300ml attracts a tax of 26.5c. A non-profit organisation, the Healthy Living Alliance (Heala) said that while this tax affected carbonated drinks manufacturers it should go further and include natural fruit drinks.

“Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and some cancers have reached crisis levels with some NCDs accounting for more than half of deaths in the country according to Statistics South Africa,” Heala said. “A major contributor to NCDs is the consumption of unhealthy foods that contain excess sugar, salt and fats which affect obesity rates. “Government needs to hold the unhealthy food and beverage industry accountable for their contribution to the burden of diseases that are crippling the healthcare system.” The World Health Organisation reported that in the first year of its introduction in South Africa, the national treasury added R3.2billion to its coffers as a result, but the health of South Africans rather than profit is what drove the decision, authorities said. While there is undoubtedly a solid benefit, there are also negatives. In an illustration of the law of unintended consequences, the SA Canegrowers Association reported in February that its producers had lost R1.5 billion in revenue – along with 9 000 jobs in the sugar industry.

CUT DOWN ON SUGAR

Instead of sugary, fizzy drinks and juices, opt instead for water or unsweetened fruit juice. (Remember to dilute fruit juices for children to further reduce the sugar.) If you take sugar in hot drinks or add it to cereal, gradually reduce the amount until you can cut it out altogether. Learn to read nutrition labels to help you pick the foods with less added sugar, or go for the low-sugar version. Select tins of fruit in juice – rather than those in syrup. When it comes to cereals, preferably go for wholegrain breakfast cereals and avoid those which are sugar coated.

J U L / AU G 2 0 2 0

THINGAMAJIGS |

2 3 5

TREAT YOURSELF

NOTHING BEATS A LITTLE TREAT, SOMETHING INDULGENT WHICH LIFTS THE MOOD AND PUTS A SMILE ON THE FACE. WHETHER IT’S AROMATIC, SUCH AS THE SCENT OF SUMMER CANDLE OR A PRACTICAL ITEM SUCH AS A BEANIE WITH A HEAD TORCH OR A SCREEN CLEANER IN A NICE PACKAGE, IT CAN PROVIDE WARM FUZZIES AT A TIME WHEN THEY’RE SORELY NEEDED. 1. CHARLOTTE RHYS WATERLESS HAND SANITISER | R109 | www.yuppiechef.com 2. WHISKY AND DRINK STONES (SET OF 9) | R295 | www.mantality.co.za 3. CAPE ISLAND SUMMER VINEYARD CANDLE | R119 | www.yuppiechef.com 4. LIGHT UP BEANIE | R260 | www.aplacetoshop.co.za 5. EASEL BOOK & TABLET STAND | R289 | www.aplacetoshop.co.za 6. CHAPPIES SOCKS | R129 | www.niftygifts.co.za 7. WHISKY LOVER’S PLAYING CARDS | R195 | www.bigblue.co.za

8. SCREEN CLEANER KIT | R55 | www.bigblue.co.za 9. UNICORN HOT WATER BOTTLE | R119 | www.niftygifts.co.za

8 68 w w w .t o p s a t s p a r. c o . z a

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VRUGTEVREUGDE R IN HIERDIE RAMPTYD VAN COVID-19 IS ONS GEBOMBARDEER MET VRESE EN SWAARMOED. IN SULKE TYE IS DIT ALTYD LEKKER OM ’N GOEDVOEL-STORIE TE KAN DEEL. VERAL AS DIT REGTIG GEBEUR HET. DIS SOOS OM ’N KRAAKVARS APPEL TE BYT DAT DIT KLAP.

Address: TOPS at SPAR 29 Main Road, Villiersdorp, 6848 Tel: 028 840 1200 Business Hours: TOPS at SPAR Mon-Thurs 09h00 - 17h00 Fri: Closed Sat-Sun: Closed Public Holidays: Closed TOPS Customer Care Tel: 086 031 3141

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y jy nou met die Franschhoekpas oor die Hottentots-Hollandberge kom jy daar onder by die Theewaterskloofdam se T-aansluiting uit. Draai jy links ry jy Villiersdorp in. Net daar, in Hoofstraat, kry jy ’n TOPS at SPAR. Maar ten tye van die storie was daai TOPS at SPAR, saam met min of meer die res van die land, onder grendel. So, toe draai ons liewer regs. Klaar gedraai ry jy mos oor die damwal. Kort anderkant die Van der Stel-pas se afdraai is daar ’n pad na D&M Marketing se pakstoor toe. Nou wel, ten tye van dié storie en terwyl min of meer die hele land gekniehalter was, was daar ’n klompie mense op ’n dag daar aan’t woel. Baie besig. Almal gemasker. Nee, nee, hulle was nie onderduimses nie. Inteendeel. Hulle was gemasker, want hulle hou die reëls. Van maskers dra en afstand hou om Corona te kortwiek. Hulle het toestemming, permitte en goeie rede gehad om daar te wees. Hierdie groep mense is almal vrugteboere. Suksesvolle vrugteboere. Wat hulle uniek maak, is dat hulle nie te lank terug nie eintlik nog niks was nie. Hulle was nie boere nie en hulle het nie eens grond gehad nie. Vandag pak hulle in die voorste linie. Hulle is almal ’n resultaat van ’n proses waar gevestigde boere, die regering, finansiële instansies, ensovoorts na 1994 bymekaargekom het en hierdie jong, opkomende swart boere gehelp het. Hulle het dit gemaak, nie net as gevolg van dié hulp nie, hulle het dit gemaak want hulle wou dit maak. En hulle het op daardie dag bymekaargekom om iets terug te

gee. Dit laat ’n mens dink aan die film Pay it Forward. Die konsep is dat iemand wat iets goeds oorgekom het later van tyd daardie positiewe “energie” vooruit stuur aan iemand wat dit nou weer nodig het. In die pakstoor was hulle voorsitter aan die woord: “Ons is dankbaar om deel te kan wees van hierdie projek. Oor die afgelope sowat 25 jaar het ons die bevoorregtes geword. Nou het dit tyd geword om te gee aan dié wat nie is nie.” Kort daarna het Gift of the Givers se trok die pakstoor ingery. Die vurkhysers het begin loop. Vrag na vrag se uitsoek appels en pere is ingelaai. Altesaam 12 ton vrugte, verpak in 12 000 sakke om honderde honger mae te help vul.

Ten tye van dié storie en terwyl min of meer die hele land gekniehalter was, was daar ’n klompie mense op ’n dag daar aan’t woel. Baie besig. Almal gemasker. Wat hierdie gebeurtenis uniek maak is nie net die feit dat hierdie groep boere ’n lywige deel van hulle harde handewerk aan honger mense in dié ramptoestand gee nie, maar dat hulle dit nie aan die groot klok hang nie. Daai tjokvol trok is sonder basuin weg om te gaan kos uitdeel. Want dit is wat boere doen. Hulle hou die land se kosmandjie vol. Al is dit met ’n masker op.

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Cheers Vol. 49 July / Aug 2020

Articles inside

BOOK GIVEAWAY

ENTERTAINMENT

DIARY DATES

LOCKDOWN MUSINGS

HUISKOK

HOT BITES

THE SCOOP

BEHIND THE LABEL

MINDFULNESS

BLOGSPOT

PERFECT SERVE

REVIEWING COGNAC

BRANDY IN SOUTH AFRICA