Mountain flavours add unique twist to South African gin craze

Cape Town

PILING in for after-work drinks, around two dozen people pore over the menu at Mother's Ruin, a speciality gin bar in Cape Town, where homegrown varieties are making a mark on the global scene.

The menu is a daunting tome of 144 gins from around the globe, over 20 of them South African and steeped in the flavours of the country's unique coastal mountains. "Those are very popular - all the foreigners that come in here want to see what gins South Africa has to offer," said part owner Will Pretorius, whose current favourite is A Mari, a variety from Cape Town distilled with seawater.