AA Badenhorst Caperitif

Introducing Adi Badenhorst's extraordinary vermouth, Caperitif. Inspired by European vermouth and created with unique South African flavours, the drink’s deeper origins in fact lay with the Dutch explorers, who used herbs to help their wine last through long voyages of discovery, and infused wine with quinine to fight malaria. By the late 1800s however, it had crossed the line from practical measure to recreation and a commercially produced Cape Aperitif, or Caperitif was born.

It was used to make many cocktails, appearing in the Savoy cocktail book, and being poured in bars all over the world, and then, sometime in the 1930s, the company that made it vanished overnight, as did Caperitif. From then on, it was known as the “ghost ingredient” by bartenders and mixologists, and often replaced in cocktails by French vermouths like Lillet.

Fast forward nearly 100 years, and it’s thanks to a visit to South Africa by Danish mixologist Lars Lyndgaard Schmidt and a chance encounter with winemaker Adi Badenhorst that Caperitif has returned. The original recipe might have vanished, but after much investigation and reading of the history books, Caperitif is now produced by fortifying high quality Chenin Blanc wine from Adi’s farm, and then infusing it with some 35 natural botanicals.

Made in small batches, each one gets a number, much like a wine to be vintaged. A ghost no longer.