Hout Bay Harbour Distillery has just had its Navy Strength Gin voted Best Navy Gin winner for South Africa at the prestigious World Gin Awards. Held annually in the United Kingdom, this year the awards received 450 entries from around the world. The Navy Gin category is for gins with an alcohol percentage of 57% ABV – in layman’s terms, that means it’s very strong!
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Chief distiller and co-owner Mike Schmidt says, “We are absolutely blown away by this award. We always believed that this was a special gin, but having that belief endorsed in this way is amazing.” He goes on to say, “Because of the huge number of gins available in the South African market, we have found it virtually impossible to get a distribution deal; in fact, as we stand here today, we might very well have the best Navy Gin in the world and very few retailers in South Africa are willing to stock it. We entered these awards in the hope that we might be able to expose our products to the larger world market, which is exactly what has happened, and we are thrilled.”
The winning gin from Hout Bay Harbour Distillery has been hailed as a smooth classic-style gin being very juniper-forward on the nose, with a sweet orange and cardamom palate that is surprisingly smooth for such a strong gin.
Updated on 22 January:
Local gin lovers and producers have even more reason to celebrate – as KWV Cruxland gin has scooped the Best South African London Dry Gin Award at this year’s event. A huge achievement!
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