Our operation, Blackwood Spirits, is in a converted storeroom at our home. For each step in our process we source high quality ingredients and whenever possible. Local botanicals, including diving for the kelp used in our Cape Kelp gin. The distilling, bottling and labeling is by hand, so you are enjoying truly small batch gins and spirits created with care and attention, for your enjoyment.
The Story of Our Spirits
Blackwood Spirits – the distillery named after the road we live on – was started by wife and husband Helene & Guido Zsilavecz as a hobby. We tried our hand at making wines, beers, and liqueurs just for fun. But we realized that taking these to a commercial level would not be easy. The number of wine estates listed in Platter’s wine guide each year just keeps on growing. The craft beer market seems saturated. A trip to southern Austria, where there is a tradition of a post-meal digestive schnapps, piqued our interest.
The magical alchemy of distilling allows for wide array of genuinely distinctive products, using a variety of raw materials. The creativity of distilling alchemy captured our imagination. Distilling itself is a fascinating process. At Blackwood, each time we see the first drops of spirits produced it is as exciting as the first batch we distilled.
The Recipe
Our first gin is an adaptation inspired by an old Dutch recipe from the 1950’s we found during our research in a London Dry style. Our second gin stems from our love for nature. Both of us SCUBA dive, and our connection to the oceans was the driving force to develop a gin that reminds us of our wild coastline. One of the distinctive elements in Cape Town waters is kelp. Somewhat unknown as a food source locally, we experimented with adding it as a botanical to our gin. We liked the result, and thus our Cape Kelp Gin was born.
Whilst our Hout Bay distillery is not open to the public, please contact us should you have any queries or wish to purchase any of our products.
