The Bees and Trees

To help preserve the natural beauty & biodiversity of the region, Abstinence pursues a “Bees and Trees” social responsibility project, assisting in removing intrusive alien vegetation from our world-renowned Fynbos Biome and assisting the Cape Honeybee to flourish as pollinator of flowering plants, including many Fynbos species.

Doing our part to live our ethos of “restoring balance”, in both our social occasions and natural surroundings, Abstinence donates 1% of its sales to supporting "bees & trees" in the Cape Floral Kingdom

Abstinence Spirits commits itself to raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding indigenous Cape Honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis) living in the wild. South Africa is in an incredibly unique situation as roughly 80% of our honeybees still live in the wild, unlike Europe where most of the bees are hived. Germany, for example, has 99.9% of all their bees living in hives and all the bees are managed and medicated.

Bees are a keystone species and are vital for biodiversity.

In the Cape we have the smallest and most diverse floral kingdom in the world as the fynbos region covers less than 6% of SA. This floral kingdom is primarily pollinated by bees, and honeybees and other species of bees pollinate 85% of the fynbos. It is vital that we protect bees in pristine areas so that biodiversity can survive. And to further assist with that, remove as much alien vegetation as we possibly can!

To do our part, we are active members of the Botanical Society of South Africa Kirstenbosch (https://botanicalsociety.org.za/branches/kirstenbosch/), donate monthly to The Table Mountain Fund (http://www.thetablemountainfund.org.za/) and are Patrons of Ujubee (http://ujubee.com/).

Stay tuned for the exciting projects to come for 2021!

The Low and No Alcohol Masters 2021 - The Spirit Business

The Low and No Alcohol sector is one of the drinks industry’s biggest success stories in recent years, with lockdown measures, on‐trade closures and a booming e-commerce industry vastly accelerating the category’s growth both in the local and global market. Coupled with a universal health and wellness trend across the globe, mindful drinking has taken off and is here to stay.

On home soil, we are proud to be awarded The Pick n Pay Small Supplier of the Year in recognition of the passion, dedication, and achievements in building out the category in 2020. Globally, we have just received the wonderful news that we were one of the top performing producers at the inaugural Low-and No Alcohol Masters Competition of 2021, clinching medals for all 4 products that were entered.

Hosted by the internationally renowned drinks authority, The Spirits Businesses, the tastings took place in the UK, completely blind, first neat and then with the suggested tonic water, cola or mixer pairing.

Competing with just over 50 entries in the White ‘Spirit’ Category (0.5% ABV and Under) as well as 27 entrants in the Non‐Alcoholic Apéritifs Category (0.5% ABV and Under).

We are delighted to receive our 3 Gold Medals and 1 Silver, making us one of the most awarded brands of the tasting. The biggest flight of entrants on the day was the Non‐Alcoholic White ‘Spirit’ Category (0.5% ABV and Under). The Abstinence Cape Citrus and Abstinence Cape Spice both took home Gold medals. The judges were particularly taken by the latter, remarking:

“Dried floral notes and woody, bark, slight sweet spice. The palate neat is quite nice, there is a touch of bitterness and a little hit of spice on the back of the mouth. Tonic brings out a lovely sweetness that compliments the woody notes of the sample. Quite refreshing, could be used for more grown-up complex zero abv cocktails.

The newly launched Abstinence Cape Fynbos proved that it was a force to be reckoned with straight off the bat, clinching a Silver medal in the first year of its release.

All three Abstinence Non-Alc Spirits contain no sugar, no alcohol and no colourants and are made through a process of Hydro Distillation: a steam distillation utilized in extracting essential oils from our beloved local flora and botanicals. Each variant features a local hero in the form of Citrus, Honeybush, Rose Geranium and Buchu, complimented by an array of spices including Coriander, Juniper, Angelica Root, Cardamom and Cassia to name a few.

In the flight of Non‐Alcoholic Apéritifs (0.5% ABV and Under), the Abstinence Blood Orange Aperitif proved to be one of the top performing products in the category, taking home a Gold medal and impressing the judges with “light aromas of blood orange on the nose, and the introduction of bitterness on the palate”. Taking the guilt out of a sundowner Spritz!

Personally, we love to mix this product with soda and slice of orange.

If you have a sweet tooth, adding a premium Light or Indian tonic water goes down a treat, or if you a celebrating like we are right now, a non-alcoholic bubbly!

Look out for Abstinence Non-Alcoholic products at leading Pick n Pay stores, or online at Cybercellar, Takealot and Yuppiechef.