Distilling Guides & Distillery Journal
6 in-depth guides from the world's youngest Master Distiller (CIBD, 2024), covering how to start a spirit brand, contract distilling, liquor licensing, cask ownership and setting up a distillery. Plus awards news and stories from behind the still.
How to Start Your Own Spirit Brand in South Africa
What it actually takes to get your own gin, vodka or liqueur onto a shelf: the eight steps, the real minimums, the licences, and the mistakes that cost first-time brand owners the most money.
Distilling guides, awards and stories
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How to Set Up a Craft Distillery: The Ghana Case Study
We designed a 200 litre still, had it built to spec, shipped it to Accra, installed it, developed the recipes and trained the team. Here is what setting up a distillery from scratch actually involves.
Why Grape Based Spirits Taste Different
Almost every gin and vodka starts life as bought-in neutral spirit. We make ours from our own wine. Here is what that does to the liquid, and why it won a Best Vodka Trophy.
Liquor Licensing Basics for a New Spirit Brand
Which licence do you actually need to sell your own gin? A plain language map of making versus selling, national versus provincial, excise registration, and the shortcut most new brands take.
How Whisky Cask Ownership Works in South Africa
Owning a maturing cask is one of the few assets you can eventually drink. How it works in practice: sizes, spirit options, bonded storage, exit routes and the risks nobody enjoys mentioning.
What Does Contract Distilling Cost in South Africa?
Nobody publishes real numbers, so here is the honest version. What drives the price of a contract distilled spirit, what the minimums are, and how to model your own per bottle cost before you ask anyone for a quote.
How to Start Your Own Spirit Brand in South Africa
What it actually takes to get your own gin, vodka or liqueur onto a shelf: the eight steps, the real minimums, the licences, and the mistakes that cost first-time brand owners the most money.
The World's Youngest Master Distiller, Benedikt's CIBD Journey
In 2024 the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers confirmed Benedikt Blomendahl as the youngest Master Distiller in the world. The path there started at nine years old.
Numbers and Spirit: Benedikt Earns the CGMA Designation
In 2025 Benedikt added a Chartered Global Management Accountant designation through CIMA. A distillery is a craft, and it is also a business.
Ben Hur and Valhalla Join the Winners at Michelangelo 2025
Ben Hur Spiced Rum and Valhalla Elixir both took Gold at Michelangelo 2025, along with a KFM Best of the Cape Silver. Our two newest labels, straight onto the shelf.
Best Spice Gin in South Africa 2021
Roxi's Spice Gin, developed and distilled in our stillhouse for a client, was named Best Spice Gin in South Africa at the 2021 SA Craft Gin Awards.
Benedikt Graduates as a Distiller
In 2020 Benedikt formally graduated as a distiller, after years in the cellar, his first 55 litre whisky barrel, and 800-bottle production runs of gin.
The Night Our Vodka Beat the World
In 2019 Blomendahl Vodka won the Michelangelo Best Vodka Trophy, judged against every vodka in the competition. A grape-based vodka from the Elgin valley took the top prize.
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