92 TASTE JAN/FEB 2019
CAUSE EFFECT
COCKTAIL KITCHEN
CAPE TOWN
“Call me Awehwolf,” grins the barman,
sliding over a Toast pale ale. Toast beer
is made using surplus bread from bakeries
and restaurants in Cape Town. So you’re
not just drinking, you’re saving the world.
It’s a taste of things to come.
Awehwolf ’s real name is Justin Shaw.
He’s the head barman around here,
and from the moment we set off on his
Zambezi-rapids stream of consciousness,
I can’t imagine him anywhere else.
He is like an impish bar spirit that was
brewed in the vials and beakers lining
the mirrored display behind him.
In fact, these glass vessels are filled
with various tinctures, from cinnamon
and slangbos to mushrooms and hay.
And next to the tinctures are jars of
drying or rare ingredients such as wildeels
(African wormwood) and saffron
and baobab and love root.
Most of these are foraged by the
“sackmen” (hessian sack-wearing
naturalists who sell herbs and roots at the
Cape Town train station) and sangomas,
or collected from Sea Point Nursery
and the Oranjezicht City Farm.
When we meet Justin he is designing
his seasonal cocktail menu. The term
“season” here does not refer to the weather
but to the availability of ingredients
and the intuition of his suppliers.
This summer will see the third iteration
of the cocktail menu in 11 months.
“Many local bars follow internationalClockwise from topleft: Cause Effect ispart hipster
watering hole, part alcoholic apothecary;Scratchthe
Surfaace: a virgin cocktail containing the crust of a
roasted and desiccated coconut with moringa, stevia,
buchu, and kombucha; the Cape Sugarbird cocktail.