Utopia Cape Town is one of the first restaurants to stock the brand new Cape St Blaize range of gins, distilled in its artisanal distillery in Mossel Bay.

I attended a tasting at Utopia, led by Leroy Maritz of the three gin variants.

What makes the gin unique is the beautiful handcrafted hand labelled porcelain ceramic bottles, which have been specially made by Mossel Bay locals. The brand home is a historic building which dates back to 1786/7.

Utopia offers a new Tasting of the three gins, at R150, and sells the Cape St Blaize gins at R46 per shot. They can be requested at the table when dining at Utopia.

The three handcrafted gin variants are the following:

#. Classic: its botanicals are juniper, lime, citrus, and star anise.

#. Floristic:  botanicals of Rose geranium, and rose petals.

#.  Oceanic: This was like a sipping whisky, delicious on the rocks. Botanicals of orange rind and ginger, distilled with ocean water.

While Leroy was not specific about all the details of the hand-foraged botanicals from coastal areas, mountain plateaus, forests, and semi-arid deserts, we were shown some of them, including Buchu, red berries, juniper berries, and cinnamon rind.

In the tasting Leroy added Fever Tree Tonic to the gins.

The Cape Saint Blaize lighthouse is 20,5 meters high, and was completed in 1864, derived from a Portuguese name given to Mossel Bay by Bartolomeo Dias in 1488. The Saint is known as a protector of wild animals and healer of throat ailments.

Utopia Cape Town is a Communications Client.

Cape Saint Blaize Gin, 1 Market Street, Mossel Bay. Tel 044 691 1885. www.capesaintblaize.co.za Instagram : @capesaintblaizedistillery

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide