SPORTS TO SPIRITS: Taking cane over the line at Sugar Baron

ICYMI: A sugarcane farmer’s son destined for sports science veers into making rum in the KZN Midlands.

In 2000, Brad O’Neill, an unassuming sugarcane farmer’s son from the KZN Midlands, packed his kit and headed to the Cape, intent on tackling sports science at Stellenbosch. And tackle it he did, but – like so many Maties before him – Brad found himself more and more distracted by the other thing the student town is famed for: wine.

The teammates settled in Cape Town. For the next seven years, Brad worked in wine retail and distribution, while Marisa did front-of-house in hotels before taking to the air as cabin crew. “[The idea] was reinvigorated in 2014 when we went to Mauritius, and saw what Chamarel and St Aubin were doing,” shares Brad.

As soon as they were home, they signed up for a distillation course with Distillique, applied for the relevant licences and started tinkering with a 100-litre column still.

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dailymaverick /  🏆 3. in ZA

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