Distillery 031, Small Batch Craft Spirits, South African

Small batch, craft, Distillery 031 of Durban, South Africa, makes delicious vegan alcohol. They are a small-batch craft distillery, said Andrew Rall, owner and founder, during an interview at the 23^rd Annual Americas Food & Beverage Show, Miami Beach, Florida. 

Andrew Rall, owner and founder of Distillery 031,
23rd Annual Americas Food & Beverage Show, Miami Beach,
Florida, Copyright 2019 by Helen A. Lockey

Rall’s fascination with craft spirits began in 2000 with a trip to Scotland and a later trip to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Norway and Brazil where he explored several approaches to distilling. He started a craft distilling as a hobby 2007 at his home. The decision to grow his hobby into a distillery was energized by the craft distillery movement in South Africa. He wanted his spirits to reflect the eclectic style of Durban and so kept his process small-batch. In 2015, he started selling to the public.

He uses locally sourced ingredients in his alcohol like fresh harvested and pressed sugar cane juice, cascara (coffee cherries), African Rosehip, African Baobab, Madagascar Vanilla beans, Naartjie, and Rooibos.

Distillery 031 of South Africa, from left to right:
Agua Zulu Cachaca, 031 Vodka, 23 Americas Food & Beverage Show,
Miami Beach, Fla. Copyright 2019 by Helen A. Lockey

His 031 Vodka is made in a Swedish style way, unfiltered so it has a bit of flavor. It is distilled 10 times from molasses produced from locally grown sugar cane. The final alcohol is ultra smooth, and is as pure as it can be with the just the body of the alcohol, both the head (ethanol) and the tail (acetone) are discarded. It is has refreshing, slightly sweet citrus zest flavor, and is 43 percent Alcohol by Volume. 

Distillery 031 from left to right: Ancestors Absinthe,
Heart of Gold Vanilla & Baobab Liqueur, Heart of Darkness
Coffee Liqueur, 23 Americas Food & Beverage Show,
Miami Beach, Fla., Copyright 2019 by Helen A. Lockey

Distillery 031 uses their hand crafted, ten times distilled, Vodka as a base for their Heart Of Gold Liqueur. This spirit is delightfully sweet and creamy, infused with African Baobab fruit and Madagascar vanilla bean in the bottle. It has a creamy mouth feel simulating a dairy base but its all vegan, according to Rall.

They also make Brazilian-Portuguese style Cachaca called Agua Zulu, D'Urban Dry Gin, D'Urban Barrel Aged Gin, D'Urban Scarlet Gin, Heart of Stone Naartjie & Rooibus Liqueur, Ancestors Absinthe, Heart of Darkness Coffee Liqueur, Brandy, and Tonic.

Distillery 031, named after the area code in their part of Durban, was at the 23rd Americas Food and Beverage Show to find a distributor for the Florida market. They hope to be available for sales in 2020, first on the Internet and then Brick and Mortar stores. But for right now if you want to taste their craft spirits you will have to travel to South Africa.