Discovery is everything. - Makro

10
BRANDY & COGNAC SUPPLEMENT
Brandy en route
A Road Trip (or two) of Well-travelled History
Geography can
tell and explain
many stories, defi ne
character. Maps can
lead you into history;
and the future. It’s
called ‘discovery’, and
no route is worth the
journey more than
the one that adds
deep pleasure.
COURTESY OF THE
August 2012
Establishing a brandy route for the intrepid connoisseur explorer
back in 1997, was clearly a brilliant promotional concept by the
enterprising South African Brandy Foundation.
Charting a path, linking the pit stops on the road and
punting the map, the country’s favourite alcoholic beverage
became a destination: an adventure connecting literally and
metaphorically, contemporary local brandy production with
its long, colourful history. Enthusiasm propelled the project
and it grew. Today there are two maps, a number of highways
and many by-roads and personalities to survey.
It’s worthwhile fortifying yourself in advance with some
background. Th e history puzzle pieces will fi t better, the routes
so much more gratifying. And you can ride with the ghosts.
Brandy fuelled, literally and fi guratively, much of the
transport that ventured from the southern coasts, through
the expansive and sometimes desolate central plains, to the
booming economies and human endeavours in the northern
parts of southern Africa during colonial times. A tot at a stop -
fi re water for the loins - was as good as gratifi cation for man and