Unveiling the new tipple in town, an unashamedly African rum

Any game drive guide worth their salt will tell you they’d rather face off with a lion than a dagga boy: the older, solitary, mud-caked bachelor male buffaloes that are highly unpredictable and very dangerous.

In choosing a name to launch a rum, Dagga Boy is a clever choice. It will no doubt cause some confusion (and get tongues wagging) but when you get down to the real meaning — from the Swahili word for mud — and pronunciation — dag-ha — it’s a name as African as they come for SA’s newest tipple: a premium African sipping rum.

Made with organic molasses from the Free State, it’s a triple-distilled rum from Fusion Distillery which has been matured in red wine oak barrels without any colourants, additives, sweeteners or preservatives.

To give back to conservation, Dagga Boy is also a benefactor of Down to the Wire, an organisation that works to eliminate poaching and snaring of animals. Funds raised through the project go towards assisting wildlife vets with wildlife conservation, treatment and animal rehabilitation. 

The rum has been hand bottled and carefully labelled, with fine golden detail. It presents as a beautiful caramel coloured liquid with nostalgic aromas of Christmas cake and a lovely flavour of mellow, warm vanilla.

For connoisseurs it’s best enjoyed neat over ice but comes alive in a cheeky cocktail. A personal favourite is the easy-drinking Chatty Egret: sweet yet zesty with a slight bite, it goes down drink after drink, making it a deceptively dangerous.

Whatever your preference, co-founder of Dagga Boy, Kevin Wright, suggests you be social about it. “Enjoyment of our African sipping rum is best experienced in conjunction with laughter-filled conversations, be it whilst in the bush, at the club, around a braai or your regular table at the local watering hole.” Not unlike the cantankerous "dagga boys".

THE CHATTY EGRET

Ingredients:

37.5ml Dagga Boy rum

12.5ml lime juice

12.5ml sugar syrup

½ tsp chilli flakes

100ml ginger beer

Method:

1. Shake and strain over ice and top up with ginger beer. Garnish with a lime twist and mint sprig.
2. Dagga Boy is available for R499 online or from Norman Goodfellows and Whisky Brother. 

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