It’s a distinctly windy Wednesday at the foot of Table Mountain, and Adrian Kinsey-Quick and I have taken shelter on the balcony of a small cafe to chat about a particularly pressing topic for the upcoming Cape Town summer. Cocktails. Kinsey-Quick’s bakkie is parked up the road, filled with stock of the spiced liquor he’s hoping to take over the South African cocktail scene with.
We’ve met for an hour during his daily route, a rinse-and-repeat of pitching a newcomer spirit to a guarded market, then delivering that same product to the bars, restaurants, and bottle stores willing to drop their guard and take a leap on something new.
The product is Bangbroek, a spirit aperitif made in the Cape on a 33% vodka base and infused with Karoo agave syrup, cinnamon and chillies grown in Stellenbosch. The label reads ‘For the bold’. The name, for anyone who grew up within earshot of an Afrikaans kitchen, is a little cheekier than that. Scaredy pants would be the direct translation, but as can so often be the case, the English language fails to do justice to the descriptive power of Afrikaans when it comes to terms like these.
Jissis, this isn’t for the bangbroeks
The name, Kinsey-Quick admits, was not the product of too much planning, arriving as many great names do; in a moment. The early batches went in far too heavy on the chilli, and the first version of Bangbroek did set mouths on fire. ‘One day, a friend of my dad’s took a sip, started coughing, and jokingly said, “Jissis, this isn’t for the bangbroeks!”‘he says. ‘We all had a good laugh, and the name just stuck.’
It has done some heavy lifting since. In Franschhoek, where the brand has found its first real foothold, the translation is usually the opening line of the conversation. ‘Explaining what Bangbroek means is a good conversation starter,’ he says, ‘and often gets a few laughs.’
The Honey Badger: South Africa’s National Cocktail
A gap on the shelf
The idea came from noticing what was missing. Chilli has worked its way into food and drink around the world, yet Kinsey-Quick found surprisingly few spirits brands using real chillies, and saw an opening for something local. He wanted a versatile spirit that could put a spicy twist on a cocktail but hold its own neat or on the rocks.
What he landed on reads like a map of the province. The agave syrup comes from the Karoo, the chillies are grown in the soils of Stellenbosch. From the beginning, the bottle was to carry no added sugar and nothing artificial by way of flavourings or preservatives, a decision made early that would cause most of the trouble that followed.
Honey, chilli and a production headache
Getting the chilli right was the first problem. Everyone’s tolerance is different, and what is pleasantly warm for one drinker is a stinging mouthful for another. The chilli level has been adjusted twice since launch, and the heat now arrives late, at the back of the throat, rather than across the whole palate.
Honey was the second. Kinsey-Quick initially used it as the natural sweetener, but it settled in the bottle. The fix was to let it settle in the production tank before bottling, which took a week on a good run and up to a month on a bad one. ‘As you can imagine, that made production planning a bit of a nightmare,’ he says.
After the first year, he switched to Karoo agave syrup. It solved the problem, gave the drink its earthy base, and the recipe has not changed since.
The Honey Badger
Every bottle on the bakkie is really a vehicle for one drink. The Honey Badger is a double shot of Bangbroek over ice, a short pour of fresh lime and a top of ginger ale, and it is the cocktail Kinsey-Quick wants the country to claim as its own. ‘Italy has the Negroni, Cuba has the Mojito,’ he says. ‘I’d love to see the Honey Badger become that iconic South African drink.’
In Franschhoek it has already gone some way there. By the brand’s own count, it is second only to the Aperol spritz in the village, and the reasons are not hard to find. Visitors want something local they cannot get at home, and a spirit built on chilli, cinnamon and Karoo agave is unlike anything on their shelves. For locals, the appeal is a drink that tastes like the place it was made, at a time when the South African cocktail scene and its indigenous ingredients are starting to get noticed abroad.
The common mistake, he says, is the lime. Too much and it overpowers the ginger ale and cinnamon, which together give the drink its character. Too little and the ginger ale runs sweet, because the acidity of the lime is the only thing cutting through it. It is a simple cocktail, and the balance is everything.
His own favourite from the Bangbroek list is a winter drink. The Espresso Inferno is the brand’s take on the Espresso Martini, with the cinnamon and a gentle chilli warmth working alongside the coffee. ‘It’s a little different from your usual Espresso Martini,’ he says, ‘and definitely worth trying.’
Edition 02 and the road ahead
The 02 on the label marks the point where the recipe settled, and the label was redesigned to match it. ‘Starting a new brand involves a lot of trial and error,’ Kinsey-Quick says. ‘You experiment, learn what works, make a few mistakes along the way, and gradually figure out what your product and brand should really look like.’ Edition 02 is now the standard, though new flavours, limited releases and alternative labels are all being talked about.
The bigger ambition is the one that keeps the bakkie on the road. Kinsey-Quick wants the Honey Badger to be a drink you can order at just about any restaurant or bar in the country, and he makes the case without a hint of irony. ‘We’re tough, resilient, full of character and, underneath it all, warm-hearted,’ he says. ‘In many ways, South Africans really are the definition of honey badgers. And I can’t think of a better animal, or cocktail, to represent us.’
Bangbroek is stocked through Norman Goodfellows and Distriliq in the Western Cape and Gauteng, among other outlets. Recipes at bangbroek.com, or follow @bangbroekdrinksco.
Box: make it at home
The Honey Badger
- 50ml Bangbroek
- 20ml fresh lime juice
- 200ml ginger ale
- Ice
Build over ice in a tall glass, stir, and garnish with a wedge of lime. Go easy on the lime: it should cut the sweetness of the ginger ale, not take over the glass.
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Picture: Supplied.
