Ron McGregor's web site - Welcome to South Africa -drinking.htm
Just about all modern beverages are available. The following notes apply only to things that are specific to Southern Africa.
| THE DRINKS MENU | ||
| Water | Tea, Coffee etc | Spirits |
| Liqueurs | Beer | Wine |
| Liquor laws | Where to drink | Navigation flag O |
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I suppose we had better start with the water. Yes, you can drink it. Straight from the tap - provided that the tap is indoors. In many country areas, the outdoor taps are on a separate system, delivering unpurified irrigation water.
There was at one stage a "water scare" in Harare, so you may prefer to stick to the bottled stuff there.
Most folks in Southern Africa don't drink bottled water, but as visitors are so ready to buy it, it is now on sale just about everywhere.
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TEA, COFFEE & "ROOIBOS"
Tea of good quality is available everywhere. Two forms of coffee are found. As a visitor, you will probably be in places were pure coffee is served. In more out of the way places, or if you are visiting with the locals, you may find the coffee a little strange. This is because most coffee is imported, and therefore expensive. Most coffee sold for domestic use is blended with roasted chicory, of which South Africa produces plenty. This "coffee"contains anything from 20 to 80 per cent chicory.
It improves considerably when brewed on a campfire.
"Rooibos" (pronounced Roy-boss) is a herbal "tea" that is not related to regular tea at all. It is harvested in the South Western Cape, and is full of good things, and contains absolutely no tannins, no caffeine - in fact no bad things at all. Recommended that you try it, although it is a bit of an acquired taste.
Drink it black, with or without sugar. Some folks add milk. Yecch!
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Brandy
The famous KWV make high quality brandy that regularly wins medals in France, so I suppose it rates as a cognac equivalent. However, when the average South African orders a brandy, he is ordering a rather rougher spirit that is usually drunk with cola or ginger ale, plus a couple of ice blocks. If you wish to express solidarity with the locals, order a Klipdrif and coke!
Cane Spirit
This is a uniquely South African thing. "Cane" is not to be confused with rum. It is a colourless pure spirit, usually drunk with cola, as in "Cane and coke, please Mister Barman." Or possibly, "Double Cane and coke, please." (The standard South African tot measure is considerably smaller than the British.)
Some folk prefer Cane and lemonade, possibly with a shot of lime. And ice. Always ice.
If you want to sound as if you really know what you are talking about, you state your brand of cane by name: "Mainstay and coke, please."
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Van der Hum
Much of what we drink - wine, beer, spirits - is rooted firmly in our European heritage. Van der Hum, however, is uniquely indigenous to South Africa.
It is a delightful liqueur produced from tangerines. Highly recommended as an alternative to the Drambuie or Grand Marnier or whatever other European thing you were just about to order.
Amarula
This is another uniquely South African liqueur. The marula is a stately tree that grows in the low-lying eastern parts (especially around the Kruger National Park). It produces a plum like fruit that is much loved by elephants and tribesmen. The elephants gobble it up by the trunkload in summer, and then go off to water. The resulting combination, sloshing around in their stomachs, produces alcohol, and produces somewhat tipsy elephants.
Amarula is a creme liqueur produced from the fruit. Interesting and delicious, and much recommended.
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Clear Beer
Southern Africa is a hot, and often dry, area, and beer is the most popular alcoholic refreshment by far. We drink mostly bottled or canned lagers, although draft is available in many places.
The most popular beers are Lion and Castle. Lion dominates the black market, with its slightly sweeter taste. Westerners, with a preference for a drier beer, go for Castle.
Amstel and Black Label are produced locally under licence, and a wide range of beers is now imported, although these are available mostly in the major centres. These include Guiness, which is important, as Guiness drinkers are allergic to everything else!
An interesting one - the one that I drink - is Hansa Pilsener. It's not that popular amongst whites, whose loyalty to Castle borders on the hysterical, but it has assumed a status amongst the rising number of black executives.
When ordering a Hansa, speak clearly. Some barmen, or bar ladies, don't listen, and may deliver a horrible concoction known as Hunter's, which is an apple-flavoured gimmick for flogging off some of our wine lake.
All of these are produced by the giant South African Breweries corporation. Independents are few, but look for Forester's Lager and Bosun's Bitter - both draft beers produced by Mitchell's Breweries of Knysna. The Bitter is very good, and recommended to those who like draft ales of the British type.
Also very popular are Windhoek Lager and Windhoek Export. These are trucked in from Namibia, which, with its desert climate and German heritage, is known for producing good beer.
The alcohol content of our beers varies around the five per cent mark. Castle Lite has a slightly lower alcohol count, and Windhoek Light is less than one per cent.
When in Zimbabwe, you can get locally brewed Lion and Castle, but I recommend that you try Zambezi, and (especially) Bohlingers.
Swaziland offers all the South African beers, but also has two of its own - Sibebe and Halala. Halala was launched to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Swaziland's Independence, AND the 30th birthday of King Mswati III. The can makes a very interesting souvenir, and there is nothing wrong with the contents, either.
Traditional Beer
You are unlikely to come across this commercially, as it is drunk mostly in the black townships. It is mass produced in waxed-cardboard "milk cartons." It is cheap and nutritious, made from maize and sorghum, with an alcohol content of around two and a half per cent.
If you visit one of our cultural villages, you may well be offered the real thing, brewed in an open pot, with things floating in it. Don't be scared to try it. It is not at all unpleasant - the taste, to a westerner, could best be described as "interesting."
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South Africa produces a great variety of wines, and if you take your wine seriously, you should purchase a copy of John Platter's Guide to South African wines.
One of the joys of wine is to experiment, but the first wine list that you see is likely to mean very little to you. Our most famous wine, KWV, is for export only, so you won't find it here.
Some folk play it safe by ordering the most expensive wine on the list. That's a bit silly. So, as a rough guide, here are just a few wines that should appear on an average-to-good list, with comments to guide you to your first purchases. After that - happy hunting!
| Names you can always trust | Nederburg, Fleur du Cap, Zonnebloem, Douglas Green Bellingham, Boschendal, Simonsig |
| Bone dry whites | Any Premier Grand Cru from a trustworthy name |
| Everyday dry whites | Craighall, Nederburg Lyric, Boschendal Buiten Blanc |
| Really good dry whites | De Wetshof Finesse, Brampton Sauvignon Blanc |
| Everyday dry reds | Craighall, Chateau Libertas, Backsberg |
| Everyday off-dry white | Bellingham Johannisburger, Le Pavillon Blanc |
| Semi-sweet (if you must) | Any stein from a trustworthy name |
| Sweet (if you really must) | Any Late Harvest from a trustworthy name |
| Rosé | Lanzerac, Nederburg |
| Blanc de Noir | Boschendal, Zonnebloem |
| Excellent red estates | Rustenburg, Rust en Vrede |
| Really superb reds | Meerlust Rubicon, Alto Rouge |
| Fine chardonnays | Nederburg, Paul de Wet, Graham Beck |
| Methode Cap Classique | Kaapse Vonkel, Graham Beck, Tradition |
When in Cape Town, you will doubtless visit the Winelands, but you should also pay a visit to Vaughan Johnson's Wine Shop in the Waterfront. You will discover all manner of wines from the most superior and expensive to some really good "everydays" at very good prices. Vaughan Johnson himself, one of the characters of the wine business, is usually in attendance, and he loves to talk about wine! (He's not paying me to say that, by the way!)
Top restaurants should have good, comprehensive wine lists, with maitres dee who know about wine. However, a great many restaurants allow you to bring your own on payment of a reasonable corkage charge. This enables you to choose your wine, wherever you find it, and then try it out over a good meal in a restaurant of your choice. Ask about corkage policy when you book, or before you order.
Imported wines will be found on many wine lists. They are expensive, and really I see no reason to order importeds when there is so much to be discovered locally.
In Zimbabwe, wine lists feature Local, South African, and Imported. Importeds are very expensive, South Africans are reasonable, and Locals are cheap. The local Zimbabwean wine is not exactly great, but I recommend that you try it. It's far better than it used to be. Mukuyu and Private Cellar are the two labels to look for.
What's the point of travelling, if you stick to what you could have got at home?
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Hotels, bars, restaurants, liquor stores (or go to alcohol and driving)
The sale of alcohol is restricted by law, though the laws have been relaxed considerably with the demise of the last government, which was much under the influence of the (then) rigid orthodoxy of the Dutch Reformed Church. This means that you can now get a drink on Sunday.
Bars, restaurants and hotels sell alcohol for consumption on the premises only. You may not purchase to take away. (I believe that the British describe this practice as "off-licence".)
If you wish to purchase alcohol to take away, you will have to find a bottle store. Bottle stores are open five and a half days a week, and usually close by 6 pm weekdays and by 2 pm Saturdays.
Supermarkets (though not all of them) are allowed to sell wine and non-alcoholic beer ONLY, and then only during bottle store hours.
There are two "levels" of liquor licensing for bars, restaurants and hotels. Some may sell wine and beer only. A full licence allows them to provide spirits as well.
There are still some restaurants that are not licenced to serve alcohol at all. You may bring your own. Many restaurants still permit you to bring your own wine, even though they may have acquired liquor licenses. Some of them have a really easy going attitude. The Spur chain, for example, has a policy of not charging any corkage, even though they are licenced. The same applies at St Elmos.
Usually, however, you would expect to pay a corkage of between five and ten rand a bottle.
The general rule is that the more upmarket the restaurant, the less acceptable it is to bring your own wine. As a visitor, all you need do is ask what their policy is when making the reservation. (And don't even bother to ask the hotels, because they simply don't like it!)
If you have done the rounds of some of our wine estates and better bottle stores, you may have chosen some wines that really interest you, but you would obviously prefer to enjoy them over a meal. That is when the freedom to "Bring your own" is a very welcome facility.
Our laws are reasonably strict, but as they are hardly enforced, they don't bother most people. I cannot recall the percentage of blood alcohol that determines when one is legally "under the influence." A couple of drinks of any kind will usually keep you within the law.
A couple too many might get you into serious trouble. Every so often the road authorities decide that alcohol is the major reason for road accidents. Alcohol is blamed for everything. Consequently, if you are stone cold sober and a drunken pedestrian walks in front of your car, the statistics will record yet another accident involving drinking and driving. If you are drunk, but stationery, and a sober motorist gets careless and drives into your car, then it will be your stationery drunkennes, rather than his bad driving, that is blamed for the accident.
All of this is entirely academic when it comes to reducing death on the roads, but it can be a hellish experience for the motorist who is found to be over the limit. You may be arrested, you may be denied bail, you may be sentenced to jail without the option of a fine. That's the theory, anyway.
In practice, enforcement is heavy over school holidays, the festive season and long weekends. The police who man the roadblocks are by and large sympathetic. If you seem to be okay, they are not going to destroy your life by hauling you into custody for being a fraction over the limit, so they may wave you through. Then again, they may not. Many police were not chosen to be prefects when they were at school, and now they are making up for lost time...........
However, we do not have some of the sillier laws that I have encountered elsewhere. It is quite permissible to fill your car with booze. If you have an open container in the car it will not land you in prison, unless you have been drinking from it.
Remember, though, that South African drivers are notoriously bad, especially on the open road. This, more than any fear of the law, is the real incentive for ensuring that you keep your drinking to the level that you can comfortably manage.
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As a visitor, you will usually repair to the bar, lounge, or terrace of your hotel, when it is time for that sundowner. There you may enjoy meeting other people from other countries. On the other hand, perhaps you would like to drink where the locals go, and the locals do not patronise the hotels, which are known for charging higher prices.
Southern Africa is not well provided with bars or pubs. Alcohol is two thirds cheaper in bottle stores, and most people drink at home. But there are a number of places where people stop off on the way home, or go out to on a week end.
Cape Town has the richest variety of independent pubs, of which the following can be recommended:
Over time - this is a new web site, remember - I may open a separate page with pub recommendations for the whole sub-continent, so if anyone makes any discoveries, you are welcome to e-mail me and tell me about them.
If you enjoy tea (or coffee) in fine style, there are two "high teas" that are pretty well legendary in Southern Africa. One is high tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. Make an afternoon of it, and don't make any plans for dinner.
The other is tea on the terrace at the Victoria Falls Hotel, which is so similar to the Mount Nelson in its gracious colonial atmosphere that I find it hard to believe they were not designed by the same architect (they were not).
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