End Heritage Month with a bit of magic and a whisky cocktail

Of all the things South Africa is known for whisky is not top of the list. But one woman is working to change this.

When Danielle Schoeman graduated from Stellenbosch University with a business degree she spent six years working in corporate before she discovered her true passion — distilling.

As the story goes, she traded her office heels for tekkies and began experimenting with making tequila in the Karoo before founding Doña Distillery in Cape Town where she produces gin, rum, vodka, whisky and nonalcoholic tipples.

Toor (the Afrikaans word for magic) was born when Schoeman partnered with Gerrit Wagener, a whisky fan who likewise traded his corporate garb to follow his passion and pursue the idea of enticing non-traditional whisky drinkers to dip into his world.

The duo wanted to marry the old with the new and started with the Toor five-year-old single-grain which they released last year. After this classic debut, they decided to showcase South African flavours with a whisky base with the introduction of the Toor Rooibos and Kameeldoring. Because of the addition of rooibos leaves and camel thorn wood to the Toor original whisky, they’re classified as aperitifs and bottled at a lower alcohol percentage.

The Toor Rooibos has the unmistakable flavour infused by the local red tea. Not as intense as a traditional whisky, it will easily appeal to non-whisky drinkers for its sweeter profile and muted whisky taste. And the addition of the rooibos flavour lends itself to creating fun cocktails with a South African flair — preferably with a touch of sweetness.

The Toor Kameeldoring leans more towards the classic whisky taste, if perhaps not as potent, with an undertone of oak and spicy notes.

This is, in my opinion, not the brand for purists and the Toor philosophy is it doesn’t matter how you drink it as long as it is the way you like it, whether that be neat, mixed or in a cocktail.

We’ll leave the Toor original for the neater drinks but decided to play around with a few cocktails using the Rooibos and Kameeldoring. And the results were stellar.

If you’re looking for a sweet way to end Heritage Month, here are two recipes to try at home.

BREAKFAST & LUNCH = BRUNCH

Ingredients:

50ml Toor 

50ml rooibos tea

20ml lemon juice

3 spoons apricot jam

Method:

Shake the ingredients in a shaker and pour over crushed ice in a champagne glass and serve with a lemon twist.

To compliment the traditional South African flavours in this cocktail, we recommend using the Toor Rooibos for this one.

STRAWBERRY FASHIONED

Ingredients:

50ml Toor

50ml strawberry syrup

4 dashes bitters

20ml lemon juice

Method:

Shake the ingredients in a shaker and pour over ice serve with freeze dried strawberry glass

This cocktail is quite sweet and we recommend using the Toor Kameeldoring for a bit of balance.

For more information and a list of stockists, visit the Toor website.