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If you like Porn Star Martinis, then you should probably attend the AJABU Cocktail & Spirits Festival, happening Saturday, 14, to Sunday, 22 November. The Mother City will turn into a cocktail paradise for movers, mixers and shakers.
And yes, there’ll be drinks. Lots of them.
Now in its sixth edition, AJABU is a major fixture on Africa’s hospitality calendar. Its mission is refreshingly simple: put African bartenders, ingredients, flavours, creativity and ideas firmly in the spotlight, while bringing the rest of the world along for the ride.
Founded by Ghanaian bartender and drinks industry heavyweight Colin Asare-Appiah and his longtime collaborator Mark Talbot Holmes, AJABU takes its name from the Swahili word for something wondrous or miraculous.
Fittingly, the festival grew out of Colin and Mark’s desire to build stronger connections between Africa’s drinks community and the wider international hospitality industry.
Less cocktail convention, more global bar crawl
The festival kicks off with the AJABU Tasting Tables on Saturday, 14 November, then spills across the CBD for eight days of bar pop-ups, guest shifts, collaborations, masterclasses, seminars, workshops, live music and plenty of reasons to linger.
Expect some serious international talent behind the bar, too.
Confirmed participants include Johannesburg favourites Sin + Tax, Obscura and Smoking Kills, alongside visiting teams from Mama Koko’s in Baltimore, Stone and Soil in New York, Bon Vivants in the Bahamas, Satan’s Whiskers and Cato in London, HERO in Nairobi, Front/Back and No.19 in Accra, and La Mamounia and Royal Mansour in Marrakesh.
The idea is less cocktail convention, more global bar crawl. Visiting bartenders will team up with local crews to swap techniques, ingredients, stories and ideas.
History in a glass
Back in 2001, Colin visited Cape Town with fellow Ghanaian bartender Douglas Ankrah, where they opened the now-iconic LAB bar on the site currently occupied by Chingadas Mexican Cantina.
Douglas later created the Porn Star Martini in London, turning an idea inspired by a night at the newly opened Mavericks into one of the world’s modern cocktail classics.
Twenty-five years later, AJABU will celebrate that legacy, with participating bars serving their own takes on the Porn Star Martini at half price throughout the festival.
The deets
The opening AJABU Tasting Tables will be hosted at the European Bartender School in Woodstock, with two sessions from 11am to 2.30pm and 3.30pm to 7pm. Guests can explore 20 craft spirit brands, cocktail masterclasses and educational tastings, alongside food, music and goodie bags. Tickets cost R250.
For the full festival, one wristband unlocks access to participating venues and events throughout the week, making it easy to hop around the city and discover what’s being poured.
Early birds can grab a seven-day pass for R100 until Monday, 14 September, after which it costs R150. An eight-day pass is R350.
And because apparently cocktails weren’t enough incentive, wristband holders can also enter a draw to win flights and five nights’ accommodation in Goa in April 2027.
WTickets are on sale via Quicket.
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