Cape distillery puts a local spin on gin using fynbos

It's appropriate that Inverroche Distillery is snuggled up to the southern coastal town of Stilbaai, and not just because of the name. The surrounding area is home to more than 240 species of fynbos, which is what lends the three types of artisan gins made by the Scott family their aromatic character.

"To be classified as a gin the spirit must have a recognisable juniper character, but can be infused with any combination of botanicals," says Lorna Scott, who owns and manages the distillery. Her son Rohan is the master distiller and daughter Lauren, now in matric, helps with product development and marketing.

The gins - Classic (dry with a citrus character), Verdant (floral with a feminine softness), and Amber (rich, aromatic and woody) - are the result of generations of experimentation.

"My mother used to make beer from anything she could lay her hands on," says Lorna. "I remember when I was quite young, one Christmas she got a bakkie-load of pineapples which she bottled, but she put the first batch into bottles that exploded, so she decided to make mampoer instead. She rigged up an old pressure cooker to use as a pot still, with pipes from an empty fish tank."

Inspired by her mother's ingenuity, Lorna bought a miniature copper pot still (affectionately known as Mini Meg) while on holiday in Italy. It sat on her kitchen table for three years while the family tinkered with it. Rohan, now 21, was still at school at the time, but developed an interest in distilling and with Lorna's help they perfected the recipes for the gins.

The distillery - which employs 15 people - opened in 2011 and its gins are now sold in 13 countries.

Lorna's background in sustainable development and management has carried through to this venture Water, pumped out of the ground by windmill or harvested from the rain, is filtered and stored. All botanical material is composted and returned to the soil and the fynbos used in the gins is either sourced from licensed producers or grown on the estate and gathered in a way that encourages further growth.

Lorna is proud of the sustainable business model developed by the company.

"Our success is a collective effort between our family, our partners, our community and, most importantly, our discerning customers," she says. That's worth a toast.

For more information, visit Inverroche.co.za