{"id":50411,"date":"2017-11-07T08:03:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T08:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/?p=50411"},"modified":"2017-11-07T09:17:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T09:17:09","slug":"creating-legacy-pienaar-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/creating-legacy-pienaar-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating A Legacy With Pienaar and Son"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pienaar<\/a>It\u2019s one thing to start a business, but to craft a legacy is an entirely different ball game. It\u2019s not something you can whip up out of thin air. It takes time, energy, patience and an unwavering dedication to your brand. This is something that Andr\u00e9 Pienaar, owner of Pienaar and Son Distillery in Cape Town, knows all too well. His distillery, which is barely two years old, seems to exude maturity far beyond those two years and is already something of an icon in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

You may have noticed that gin is having a bit of a moment lately and it appears to have reached peak popularity. You can\u2019t spit without hitting another new distillery or distiller.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Andr\u00e9, in his bang on-trend sneakers, rockstar past and his jewellery designer wife, would seem like the perfect hipster to open up a distillery.<\/p>\n

\"Pienaar<\/a><\/p>\n

From Rock Music to Distilling<\/h4>\n

But Andr\u00e9 is not just another musician-turned-creative who decided to start making gin on a whim. After finishing high school, unsure of exactly what he wanted to do, he studied Biochemistry at UCT and graduated with top marks. His father, an industrial engineer who specialises in distillery technology, lived in hope that Andr\u00e9 would join the family business, but wasn\u2019t surprised when Andr\u00e9 hit the road with his band Ashtray Electric.<\/p>\n

After 8 years travelling around the country, living the rockstar life, he settled back in Cape Town and focused his musical talents on a small composition studio where he would create music for adverts and other such creative projects. Though the saying goes, \u2018do something you love and you\u2019ll never work a day in your life\u2019, Andr\u00e9 found that producing music in this way almost killed his love for it.<\/p>\n

The brewing of something magical<\/h4>\n

It didn\u2019t take long however until he started playing around with a 20-litre pot still that he had bought online some time in 2015. In the process of making his own whiskey, a lightbulb switched on. Here was something creative that allowed him to exercise the geeky science-loving part of his brain. Add to that a father with an entire career dedicated to building distilling machinery and it was, in his words, \u2018a cloud-parting moment\u2019. At that time, gin was increasing in popularity, but there weren\u2019t that many people producing it locally.<\/p>\n

\"Pienaar<\/a><\/p>\n

The hard work begins<\/h4>\n

What followed was a year of business plans, tinkering, experimenting, building, brainstorming and branding before Pienaar and Son formally opened for business in November 2016. Andr\u00e9, with his father\u2019s guidance, oversaw every finite detail. He revelled in developing the flavour profiles, relying on his experienced palate to tweak and perfect the taste of his gin.\"Pienaar<\/a><\/p>\n

Designing the Pienaar and Son Gin Brand<\/h4>\n

He challenged local designer Cassandra-Leigh to create an exciting, out there logo. He did everything himself (up until 3 months ago), from distilling to bottling to labelling and everything in between. If there was an example in curating a lasting legacy, this was it. Andr\u00e9 wasn\u2019t going to rush a thing, Pienaar and Son was settling in for the long haul and he was creating more than just a business.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\"Pienaar<\/a><\/p>\n

But was the juice was worth the squeeze?<\/h4>\n

What emerged from this dedication were two truly unique gins. Deciding to go against the grain, Andre opted to omit fynbos from his flagship range. It is, rightfully, a popular local ingredient to infuse into gin, but had already been done well by a couple of brands. Instead, he chose to be culturally inspired rather than literally when it came to his flavours.<\/p>\n

Pienaar and Son Gin \u2013 Empire<\/h4>\n

First up was Empire \u2013 an ode to the British and the influence they had on South African tastes and traditions. Though it is not a standard London Dry-style, it is packed with floral cucumber, grapefruit and lemon, and is softly spiced with cardamom and nutmeg.<\/p>\n

Pienaar and Son Gin \u2013 Orient<\/h4>\n

As a nod to the Cape Malay influence in the Cape, he created Orient \u2013 a harmoniously sweet and spicy mix of vanilla, rosemary, cinnamon, almonds, ginger and allspice.<\/p>\n

And then there was vodka…<\/h4>\n

And lastly, there\u2019s Waskis, Pienaar and Son\u2019s vodka \u2013 christened for his mother\u2019s maiden name. If any of his liquors gave him sleepless nights, it was this one. As Andr\u00e9 describes it, when making gin, once your recipe is nailed down, the result will always be the same. With vodka, you\u2019re tweaking the smallest increments of alcohols, which all have a role to play in the overall flavour. Simply put, there\u2019s nowhere to hide in vodka. But Andre persevered and got it right, and Waskis is a smooth, buttery, corn-based vodka, dangerously easy-drinking.<\/p>\n

Where to from here for Pienaar and Son?<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s fascinating to sit down with someone like Andr\u00e9, and from the moment he starts talking about the distillery it is obvious that he truly is creating something incredible for the future. Not just for himself, but for the micro-distillery industry as a whole.<\/p>\n

For him, it\u2019s more than being on trend and though he\u2019s looking to expand his gin range, you won\u2019t see any gimmicky flavours coming from him. He\u2019s exploring bourbon, whiskey and even moonshine instead. And despite being pushed to make another gin \u2018just because\u2019, he\u2019s only going to do that for a genuine reason.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an organic process for Pienaar and Son, and that\u2019s probably why they are already \u2013 in such a short time \u2013 so well-respected and welcomed into the micro-distillery industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For them, it\u2019s about more than just trendy gin. It\u2019s about longevity and authenticity and doing something that they truly care about.<\/p>\n

\"Pienaar_and_son_gin\"<\/a><\/p>\n

pienaarandson.co.za<\/a>\u00a0| Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s one thing to start a business, but to craft a legacy is an entirely different ball game. It\u2019s not something you can whip up out of thin air. It takes time, energy, patience and an unwavering dedication to your brand. This is something that Andr\u00e9 Pienaar, owner of Pienaar and Son Distillery in Cape Town, knows all too well. His distillery, which is barely two years old, seems to exude maturity far beyond those two years and is already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3439,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3439"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}