Hope on Hopkins Distillery is a small artisanal distillery in Salt River, Cape Town.  Set up by two ex-lawyers, Leigh Lisk and Lucy Beard, who followed their hearts and turned their hands to distilling, they handcraft three flagship gins and have now added a vodka to the range.  They bring out limited edition special release gins from time to time.

There’s an exciting new addition as Hope on Hopkins brings its small-batch vodka to market this week and at the same time launches a second limited release gin, this one calling on the technique used by rosé wine makers to bleed grapes to add colour.  Called Lucy’s Last of the Summer Wine Gin it is an amazing ruby red and is best served in a gin and tonic with a slice of orange – perfect for easing into winter. 

 Made by taking 50 kilograms of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes sourced at the end of the harvest from Rustenberg Wines and steeping these in a batch of their London Dry Gin for a week, with only 250 bottles made this really is a limited edition gin! Be sure to get your hands on some soon.

The small-batch vodka is an addition to their permanent collection and, although designed as a sipping vodka, it is a great addition to cocktails and Bloody Marys.  Carefully handcrafted, it is a delicate balance of pot stilled and rectified spirit, blended down to bottling strength with Table Mountain spring water.

These special-releases will be available at Roeland Liquors on Roeland Street in town, Wine at the Mill in the Old Biscuit Mill and Liquor City in Claremont.