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[title]Welcome to Mother Sippy, where we shine a light on the talented winemakers, brewers, distillers and mixologists that make sure the Mother City never goes thirsty! From new wine releases to taprooms pouring perfect pints, Mother Sippy is your guide to all that’s good and great in Cape Town’s world of drinks.
First things first: don’t let the colour fool you.
Pour a measure of TØSTE – pronounced ‘toast’ – and the deep crimson hue suggests something sweet, perhaps even a little syrupy. Berry liqueur? Ribena with a kick? Not even close.
Take a sip and it’s surprisingly clean and citrusy, with blood orange and grapefruit leading the charge. Then comes a flicker of jalapeño heat, followed by a cooling note of menthol. Hot. Cold. Sweet. Bitter. It’s hard to pigeonhole, and that’s part of the delight, which inevitably leads you into taking another sip.
TØSTE is the latest release to emerge from Hope Distillery, the Salt River distillery founded by Lucy Beard and Leigh Lisk in 2014. Hope was Cape Town’s first licensed craft distillery and, while gin remains at the heart of the business, the range has steadily expanded to vodka, rhum agricole and agave spirits alongside collaborations and bottled cocktails. And TØSTE is something different again.
Officially it’s a spirit aperitif, inspired in part by the Scandinavian glögg traditions. It’s a project that has been nearly two years in development, but was only officially launched to the public this week.
Cocktails are booming and a boom in premium tequila has made shots respectable again. Between the high-end sipping spirit and the grimace-inducing shooter, Beard saw a gap.
“We wanted to develop something that was delicious, low alcohol and versatile,” she explains. “You want to enjoy what you’re drinking.”
And TØSTE certainly isn’t shy on flavour.
A neutral grain spirit provides the base, with blood orange macerated into the spirit and grapefruit adding another layer of citrus. Jalapeño brings warmth, while a touch of menthol delivers that unexpected cooling sensation on the finish. The combination took plenty of tweaking.
“We looked at what South Africans enjoy, and from our gin experience we definitely know citrus is a big win,” says Beard. “Then we wanted it to lure people in… so we’ve got a little bit of chilli in there, and there’s a little bit of cooling in there as well.”
TØSTE was conceived partly as a shooter (it’s definitely a more interesting choice than a Jagermeister), but at roughly half the alcoholic punch – it’s only 24% – of the traditional spirit shot, it’s designed to be rather more civilised. My preference is to serve it properly cold and sip it over ice. Throw in a grapefruit soda, and you have a low-alcohol twist on a paloma that’s perfect for summer.
But it’s in cocktails that things get interesting. Beard suggests swapping TØSTE for Campari in a Negroni for a softer, more citrus-led take on the classic. Add prosecco and you’re heading into Negroni Sbagliato territory.
In other words, don’t think of TØSTE as simply a shot. Rather, it’s a new bottle for the bar, with plenty of ways to use it.
TØSTE is now available from the new Hope Provisions Store in Longkloof Precinct as well as online.
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