There aren’t enough words to try to capture the spirit of South Africa, its unique combination of striking landscapes, the diversity of nature, and the richness of its culture and history. The most amazing thing about this region is that no matter how much you know about it, there is always something new and uncharted to discover.
A few years ago, the Sugarbird team created a product that offered a new interpretation of South African spirit, a new taste, and a new lifestyle experience. The brand’s premium craft spirits embodied the desire for innovation, creativity, exploration, and harmony of form and content.
It has been said that South Africa is a country worth visiting at least once in a lifetime, but Sugarbird gives you the opportunity to enjoy a taste of the region without leaving the United Kingdom. And it will be a new experience that you will definitely want to repeat again and again.
Source of inspiration
The history of Sugarbird Cape Fynbos Spirits is inextricably linked to the Cape Floral Kingdom, a unique place in southwest South Africa. There are only six such centres of terrestrial biodiversity on earth, and even among them, the Cape Floral Kingdom stands out for its smallest area containing the longest list of local flora and fauna. This is where the creators of the great flavours of the Sugarbird line of craft spirits draw their inspiration and share the results of their meticulous work with the world.
The name Sugarbird is also closely related to the Cape Floral Kingdom and more precisely, to one of its most striking inhabitants. Here, in an amazing ecosystem called ‘fynbos’, lives a copper-brown songbird with a long tail. It is the Cape Sugarbird (Promerops cafer), a tireless work bird that flits from one protea flower to another in the fynbos in search of the perfect nectar from the Protea flower (the country’s national flower, also called Sugarbush).
The Sugarbird is distinguished by its insistence on pursuit of perfection and an inextricable connection to Cape flora. These qualities make the little bird similar to the brand, which just as reverently and persistently researches the Cape Floral Kingdom ecosystem for the best ingredients and uses them to create unique flavour profiles for its spirit range.
Beginning
Cape Floral Kingdom’s inexhaustible bouquet of flavours inspired a small group of Cape Town-based enthusiasts and innovators to reinvent gin in new ways. Taking their cue from the traditional combination of ingredients from juniper, coriander, grains of paradise, and angelica root, they based the formula for their perfect drink on fynbos that grew just outside their city.
The main ingredient in the new gins was Agathosma betulina, a type of fynbos long known to locals for its unique aroma and flavour. Diverse Agathosma betulina varieties combined with honey bush, rooibos, pelargonium, and other fynbos plants became the main ingredients of the gins. Their subtle combinations provided a unique blend of floral and citrus notes that became the hallmark of Sugarbird.
The Sugarbird success story is widely accredited to contributions of scientist and company co-founder Matt Bresler. His great interest in fynbos and numerous experiments with different species of local flora have led to the discovery of a number of ways to apply their unique properties to the creation of gin.
For example, the taste and colour of Sugarbird’s Juniper Unfiltered gin are the result of the female juniper cone. However, the true secret of its sophistication lies in the combination of different shades of fynbos. Matt used the local cone shrub Leucadendron, Erika, Cape May, and Cape Chamomile. Juniper Unfiltered turned out so impressive that it became a favourite for many premium gin connoisseurs, and to this day, it is the brand’s highest repeat purchase item.
Diversity and richness
A few months after the triumphant launch of Sugarbird Juniper Unfiltered, South Africa’s largest retailer suggested that Sugarbird develop a pink gin. The result was the introduction of Pino and Pelargonium gin, which became a kind of dedication to the country’s botanical exports. Its floral and citrus notes of aroma and flavour were derived from three species of pelargonium, (known the world over as geranium) and its wonderful colour, the result of using the skins of the Pinotage grape variety cultivated in South Africa in 1925.
Sugarbird’s spirit of innovation and bold experimentation has always been evident in the company’s extraordinary decisions and strategies. Launched in 2017, the brand has developed a wide range of gift products distributed to major liquor retailers in South Africa.
In an effort to provide customers with choice, Sugarbird partnered with other gin manufacturers to introduce a series of multi-brand packs of gin mini bottles, ‘Sugarbird and Friends’. Seeing competitors from the same industry enter into such cooperation was a world first, and the resultant success among customers showed the high efficiency of such a concept.
The launch of ‘Sugarbird and Friends’ Brandy Box followed and was the vehicle through which Sugarbird launched Sugarbird XO brandy, and Sugarbird’s entry into the brandy category, in which South Africa is a world leader. The ‘Sugarbird and Friends’ range is about to launch a Multi Spirit 24, a gift collection of 24 mini-bottles of spirits that include fynbos gin, pot still brandy, rum, sipping vodka, local agave, and a unique African whisky.
Premium gin and more
True to its innovative roots, Sugarbird continues to delight connoisseurs with new gin varietals from the Cape Floral Kingdom and fynbos’s seemingly endless flavour palette. Recently the brand added a fourth varietal to the signature gin range, Sugarbird Honeybush and Moringa. A floral-driven gin, infused with sweet wild cape honeybush and delicately balanced by the tart herbaceous characteristics of African moringa from Namibia.
Having started as a producer of premium yet affordable, authentic South African gin, Sugarbird demonstrates an uncanny ability to evolve in its offerings, and 2021 saw the brand proudly launch Sugarbird XO Brandy and Sugarbird Cape Fynbos Rum.
The former is created using a pure pot still liquid matured in oak barrels for 14 years and then trickle-filtered through honeybush and other fynbos botanicals. Sugarbird Cape Fynbos Rum is a four-year-aged Jamaican style dark rum, trickle filtered through fynbos botanicals, including protea flowers for their nectar (sought out by the Sugarbird), – a unique craft rum that proudly captures the true spirit of South Africa.
“We like to believe that our unique products capture for others some of the true spirit of South Africa in all its richness – and specifically showcase the stunning flavour and taste diversity of fynbos and the Cape Floral Kingdom,” says Sugarbird co-founder, Matt Bresler.
Sugarbird in the United Kingdom
The passionate Sugarbird team began its journey just five years ago, but its achievements and credentials already given reason to speak of the revolution it has brought to the South African spirits market. However, the brand, with its ambition, has no intention of stopping. Its recent victory in the USA-based Luxury Lifestyle Awards shows that Sugarbird will expand its geography.
Customers in the United Kingdom can enjoy the South African soul that infuses every drop of the Sugarbird spirits. From the Sugarbird signature gin range – 50cl bottles of Original Cape Fynbos, Pino and Pelargonium, and Juniper Unfiltered are available for purchase as single bottles as well as selection six packs at Sunrange, and can also be purchased on Amazon, and OnBuy.com.
But this festive season – look out for ideal gifting solutions for the gin connoisseur from Sugarbird! Two of the ingenious Sugarbird bespoke products will be available to purchase online at Sunrange.co.uk, available early in November ‘22. Sugarbird Gift pack of five x 5cl Sugarbird minis and Sugarbird six festive gin crackers – a must for every adult Festive Christmas Table! The pack offers six unique flavours, namely Original Fynbos, Pino and Pelargonium, Juniper Unfiltered, and Honeybush and Moringa signature gins, as well as two limited edition varietals, Protea and cucumber and the most recent festive release, Wild Holly and Cape Plum.
So, as we have said, it would take too many words to describe the spirit, the soul, the heart of South Africa, but perhaps, sometimes we should let the senses do the talking. Take a bottle of Sugarbird gin, pour a measure in a glass. Add a splash of tonic and some fresh garnish to your preference. Appreciate the colour of the liquid. Breathe in its aroma. Take a sip. And embark on a sensory journey through the vastness of Cape Floral Kingdom. It is in your hands.
