The rising interest in cocktails and spirits over the past quarter-century has led to an explosion of conventions and festivals all over the world where drinks are poured and discussed in depth. Africa, however, has been largely absent from this global party.
That situation will change next year with the arrival of Ajabu, in South Africa. Billed as the continent’s first international spirits and cocktail festival to be held biannually, the event will run in Johannesburg from March 10 to 13, then in Cape Town from March 13 to 18. It will be followed by another weeklong event in both cities in fall 2024. (Ajabu means “something wondrous” in Swahili.)
The event is the brainchild of Mark Talbot Holmes, the founder of U’Luvka Vodka, and Colin Asare-Appiah, a native of Ghana who rose quickly through London’s mixology ranks in the 1990s and early 2000s to became a senior portfolio ambassador for Bacardi. Mr. Asare-Appiah was once a bartender at LAB, a London bar that was one of the most influential of the early craft-cocktail crucibles, and which had a location in Cape Town.
“I’ve always been African-centric,” he said. “I wanted the groups of people I’ve worked with over the years to come together and celebrate the uniqueness of Africa.”
Mr. Asare-Appiah got the idea for the festival while sheltering in place in Brooklyn during the pandemic, a period that allowed him time to reflect on his African roots. “When sitting still in the pandemic, I connected more with the continent,” he said. “I realized so many things were happening around the continent, but it was fragmented.”
