Standard Bank Fine Brandy Festival at the Sandton Sun in May

Borne from the vine, dis­tilled to per­fec­tion and crowned by the world, South African brandy has no equal. Celebrating South Africa’s iconic elixir, the Standard Bank Fine Brandy Festival is a unique, all-brandy event tak­ing place from 5 to 7 May 2010 at the Sandton Sun.  Now in its third year, the Standard Bank Fine Brandy Festival is an ini­ti­at­ive by the South African Brandy Foundation in spon­sor­ship with Standard Bank, provid­ing a soph­ist­ic­ated show­case where vis­it­ors can exper­i­ence the tri­umphs of the country’s distillers.

Themed ‘South African Brandy: the world’s finest’, the fest­ival opens the door to the local brandy industry’s con­tin­ued achieve­ments on the world stage. Bringing together all who share a pas­sion for this treas­ured drink, con­nois­seurs and bud­ding brandy enthu­si­asts will mingle with major dis­til­lers, multi-award win­ning brandy mas­ters and smal­ler, single-estate brandy makers.

The fest­ival line-up includes the largest col­lec­tion of South African brandies ever assembled under one roof, show­cas­ing the full spec­trum of the brandy industry’s achieve­ments. Guests can sip, nose and explore their way through matured Cape pot still treas­ures, vin­tage and blen­ded brandies of remark­able qual­ity. The fest­ival also puts the spot­light on artis­anal brandies made in pre­ciously small amounts, and which can oth­er­wise only be savoured at the cellar.

The new 2010 Walk of Fame pays trib­ute to pion­eers of the industry and brandy greats crowned world­wide best. Adding to the multi-faceted show exper­i­ence, the Brandy Aroma Wheel treats the nose to the subtle and com­plex fla­vours in fine brandies, ran­ging from viol­ets to vanilla, cedar wood to cit­rus, chocol­ate to cigar box, and mint to mocha.   Mixologists – the mod­ern day mas­ters of the bar – take up the Raising the Bar chal­lenge, bring­ing their con­tem­por­ary approach and show­man­ship to expertly craf­ted brandy-based cocktails.

By pop­u­lar demand Abie Valentyn, Van Ryn’s vet­eran cooper with 36 years in the trade, returns for more action, keep­ing the truly hand-made pro­cess of the cooper’s craft in the spot­light as he assembles bar­rels and fin­ishes off with his sig­na­ture tune. The SA Brandy Foundation is a mem­ber of ARA. The Standard Bank Fine Brandy Festival sup­ports mod­er­ate and respons­ible enjoy­ment of brandy. Corporate Cab ser­vices avail­able.

Need to know:
Standard Bank Fine Brandy Festival
5 to 7 May 2010, Sandton Sun, Sandton. (5^th May by invit­a­tion only)
Times: 17h00 – 21h00 (no entry after 20h30)
Cost: R195, include a brandy glass and bever­age vouch­ers
Tickets avail­able from Computicket, Ticketweb or at the door.
No vis­it­ors under 18 years.

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