Discover the Mhoba distillery
Discover the Mhoba distillery
Rum
Mhoba distillery was founded in 2014 in a village in Mpumalanga province, in the northwest of South Africa. It sits at the very gates of Kruger National Park, one of the continent’s largest natural reserves. This independent farm distillery, surrounded by verdant valleys, hills, and sugarcane fields, enjoys a tropical climate — it is hot and sunny year — round, with temperatures that can reach 50°C.
Each stage of production, from sugarcane cultivation to the engraving of the wooden labels, is carried out on-site. At Mhoba, everything that can be done by hand is done by hand, the distillery priding itself on this DIY attitude. The distillery, located so very far from the regular tourist hotspots, produces a rum it describes as ‘raw and real’.
◊ Visitors hoping to reach Mhoba best get precise directions: once off the main road, not a single sign points the way, and the surrounding sugarcane fields are the only indicator of any local rum-making. Around 20-30% of this sugarcane, cultivated over 80 acres using no chemicals and harvested by hand, is used for rum. The local varieties grown in these fields are called nkomazi, after the rural township where the distillery is located.
◊ Within the single 100 m2 building Mhoba uses for production, the facilities are starkly different from those of the great rum-houses: Mhoba’s three tiny stills are wholly unique, designed and hand-welded by distillery founder and former mechanical engineer Robert Greaves. Since childhood, Greaves has been dismantling, repairing, and repurposing anything he can get his hands on — a love for tinkering that is evident in the distillery’s every corner!
◊ No shiny stainless-steel vats here, but simple plastic containers. Mhoba’s fermentation process is long and spontaneous, in the spirit of Jamaican rums: around seven days for the lighter profiles, and up to five weeks for the heavy rums.
◊ A tall glass of fresh-pressed cane juice helps tolerate the stifling heat and humidity. It is also an opportunity to discover the sugarcane mill Robert Greaves built out of the hydraulics of an old mining excavator.
◊ Do not miss out on braaivleis (braai being Afrikaans for ‘grill’ or ‘barbecue,’ and vleis meaning ‘meat’). Here, braised meat is king: lamb, pork, and beef are served with “a side of chicken in lieu of vegetables”. This culinary tradition — a true institution of South African culture — is the inspiration for the intensely smoky notes of Mhoba’s Bushfire.
◊ Lovers of wine-barrel ageings may prolong their visit and discover the great winemaking regions of South Africa by heading to Cape Town… a measly 1,500 km detour! Must-see estates include Vrede en Lust, in the Franschhoek Valley, which supplies Mhoba’s casks.
◊ After visiting the distillery, do not miss Kruger, one of the continent’s most famous national parks. This game reserve, which covers nearly 20,000 km2, was created in 1898 by State President of the South African Republic (or Transvaal Republic) Paul Kruger at a time when overhunting posed a grave threat to local wildlife. Proclaimed in 1926, Kruger is now South Africa’s oldest national park. The nearest entrance to the park is a mere 15 minutes’ drive from Mhoba, near Malelane.
◊ Another adventure begins only 15 km east of the distillery, at the Mozambique border: the country’s capital of Maputo is less than two and a half hours’ drive away. Founded in 1781, the city melds Portuguese colonial architecture with art deco and modernism. Its palm-lined beach offers a gorgeous view out onto the Indian Ocean.
Mhoba, Rum
Mhoba, Rum
