Although a fruit beer by nature, cider, for me, is the new champagne. It’s tart, it’s bubbly and it is lower in alcohol than wine. As far as I can tell all ciders sold here are South African made.

There are the big brands like Redds (SAB), Hunters (Distell) and Savanna – all of which probably compare more closely to the sweeter varieties of sparkling wine.

But there are also the following boutique brands:

Both James Mitchell’s Gone Fishing and

Everson’sare matured ciders from Elgin. Everson’s also makes pear cider.

Peregrine’s is an apple cider available from the Peregrine’s farm stall in Grabouw.

Windermere Premium Apple Cider is an ‘Apfelwein’, a German-style cider without added sugars, preservatives or additives.

Clarens Brewery at the foot of the Maluti mountains offers Sun-kissed Apple and Deliciously Pink Cherry ciders.

Clarens Brewery also brews the Mitchell’s Cider for Mitchell’s Brewery, but I don’t know how it does on the tartness scale.

Red Stone Cider is made and bottled on an apple farm in the Free State.

You would be hard pressed for time and liver capacity if you had to try every South African wine on the market. There is no shortage of options to choose from, no matter if you like dry or sweet, red, white or rosé, port style or fortified. Here, too, you have the choice to buy organic and Fairtrade produced wines. Also, there are more and more garagista wine makers around who make few bottles (usually between 1,000 and 10,000) and are as local as you can get.

But I want to pop a cork for South African sparkling wine.

In South Africa we truly have no reason to buy French champagne. The locally produced MCC sparkling wines are simply delicious. MCC stands for ‘Methode Cap Classique’ which is the South African term for the protected French equivalent ‘methode champenoise’ (champagne method) and means the sparkly got its bubbles from natural fermentation in the bottle. There is a world of bubbles to choose from but some of our best value for money house favourites are:

Krone Borealis (House of Krone),

Miss Molly (and if you are feeling flush any of the other bubblies by Môreson)

and Pieter Cruythoff (Riebeek Cellars).

Find one that suits your taste and your budget and leave the French to console and be consoled by the widow Cliquot.

Whisky or whiskey?

I always get confused as to how to spell the stuff, even before I have consumed any. Does it depend on where it comes from or what it is made of?1

Also how would do you spell a Scotch made in Gauteng? Drayman’s is making a Highveld Single Malt that I would very much like to try.

Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky is a Western Cape single grain whisky made by the James Sedgwick Distillery (Distell). I have tasted some and not only does it stand up easily to its overseas buddies, it actually beats them hands down: Bain’s won ‘World’s Best Grain Whisky’ at the annual Whisky Magazine’s World Whisky Awards (WWA) in London in March 2013.

James Sedwick Distillery also keeps winning awards with their blended whiskies from the Three Ships range. Drayman’s makes a blend with part South African and part imported Scotch called Solera.

1 The answer is apparently that the Irish and US 'waters of life' have an 'e', the Scottish ones don't.

South Africa knows how to make spirits. From homemade mampoer and witblits to the KWV and Distell products there is spirit on (and off) every scale.

There are also a number of wine farms that craft distill brandies (ie those you don’t want to spoil with coke), eau de vies and/or grappas, notably Backsberg, Barrydale Wines, Dalla Cia,De Compagnie, Haute Cabriere, Kango Wines, Napier Winery, Oude Wellington, Tanagra, Tokara, Upland and Wilderer.

On the Garden Route, Buffalo Hills makes Nyati mampoer and outside Potchefstroom Hanzet Distillery makes award winning witblits.

Handcrafted quality spirits with great environmental credentials are where it’s at in South Africa right now. Take these two craft distilleries in the Western Cape:

Jorgensen’s Distillery is all about top quality and organic ingredients. Their brand is a good case study of how a great product together with determination can win market share without a big advertising budget. The Wellington distillery is a family business. Roger Jorgensen is the ‘still man’, his wife Dawn is working the marketing machine and the good-looking labels are designed by one of the daughters.

When I first heard of Jorgensen’s, they were only available in a few restaurants/bars, hotels and even fewer liquor stores. Dawn told me that they had decided against taking out magazine advertising and instead encouraged local media to write articles about the products and the business. They also have ‘agents’ who do word of mouth advertising for them and get the products into the hospitality industry. The Jorgensen’s have been attending many a local (af)fair, spreading their distilling knowledge in courses and sharing their stories and spirits with kindred ones on their porch. It’s a strategy that has worked well for them. And of course it is all based on and amply supported by their fantastic product. They make a spirit for everyone’s taste:

The vodka called PRIMITIV is made from local organic spelt for the purists – guaranteed headache free. An even more ‘manly’ vodka version is available with an organic chilli infused in the bottle to tickle the tastebuds pink. If you are not one of those who like it hot, try the vanilla or chocolate infused varieties.

The sipping gin simply called Jorgensen’s is bursting with flavours and almost too rich and complex to dilute with tonic. But you could always add some of the Jorgensen’s delicious bitters.

They also make various liqueurs (sweeter and with less alcohol) with the Limoncello a firm favourite.

If you have patience, Roger distills a great grape brandy called Savignac. It’s in the barrel for over 10 years and can easily hold its own with the French cognacs.

And for the adventurous, Jorgensen’s is working hard to keep up with the demand for their ‘green fairy’ called Field of Dreams. It’s a classic absinthe, deep green in colour with hectic alcohol levels. On the rocks or with some water, this herb spirit will give you the typical anise spirit-clouding effect. Those who find its taste somewhat medicinal will drip the cold water through sugar, one of absinthe’s infamous rituals. I don’t like it with sugar, but with a local sparkling wine it becomes a dangerously scrumptious cocktail. It’s ascribed to Hemingway who called it ‘Death in the Afternoon’ for a reason – it’s highly alcoholic, so please enjoy responsibly.

Yet the absinthe is not the only green thing about the Jorgensen’s distillery. In addition to using organic and homegrown ingredients whenever possible, all those delightful spirits are going be distilled by the power of the sun – Roger Jorgensen is busy converting his still from gas to a solar-powered system.

Hard to top? For sure, but Inverroche distillery on the Lourenskirk Estate in Stilbaai lives up to the benchmark. Also a family business, Inverroche is powered by wife and husband team Lorna and Michael Scott. They produce three different flavours of fynbos gin (her babies) which are so tasty, they make all our wine-drinking friends ask for a second round of G&Ts.

The recently launched 7-year-old potstill sipping rum (his baby) has turned my idea of cane spirits upside down. I can see it becoming a firm after dinner favourite, possibly even with dessert. I am not much for wine and chocolate combinations, but having this rum with some chocolate is a real sensation.

Distilling requires a fair amount of fuel. Inverroche burns alien woods from the estate to keep their potstill bubbling. Run-off grey water gets fed into the orchard and those solid leftovers from the distilling process which aren’t used as compost are cast into cobble bricks used on the estate.

Inverroche promises to branch out into liqueur and chocolates. Good things to look forward to.