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Ajabu festival reveals schedule
The agenda has been set for the second edition of the biannual Ajabu cocktail and spirits festival in South Africa next month.
The festival, set across two South African cities in Johannesburg and Cape Town, made its debut last year.
The second edition will be held from 9-11 March in Johannesburg and from 12-16 March in Cape Town. Ajabu will host its second festival for 2025 in November with dates yet to be confirmed.
In March 2025, the first part of the festival will feature a roster of bars and bartenders, as well as educational seminars.
Jetting in from international locations will be bartenders from Panda and Sons (Edinburgh); Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant (San Francisco); Front/Back and Soul Lounge (Accra); Library Bar (Toronto); Hero (Nairobi); Sips (Barcelona); NoMad’s Side Hustle (London); and Atwater Cocktail Club (Montreal).
The international bars will participate in the festival’s ‘bar mashups’, which see them join venues in Johannesburg and Cape Town, working alongside the local teams there and collaborating on cocktails that celebrate African ingredients and diversity of produce.
Some of the South African venues include Sin+Tax, Smoking Kills, Saint, Obscura, Cause Effect and The Drinkery.
Co-founder Colin Asare-Appiah, who created the festival with friend Mark Talbot Holmes, said: “Words cannot express how rewarding it is to see the bars and beverage professionals unite at Ajabu and continue their partnerships beyond Africa.
“This lasting camaraderie and support is exactly what we envisioned when we started Ajabu, and it’s undoubtedly amplifying Africa’s hospitality industry.”
Education programme
In addition to the bar activities, there will be a range of seminars and masterclasses as well, which tackle the topics that are the currently talk of the industry; for instance, the representation of women in the bar, sustainability of cocktail ingredients and the rise of agave spirits.
Heading up these will be Steve Olson (Del Maguey Mezcal and Bar Academy), Julio Bermejo (Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant); Simone Caporale (Sips); Kate Boushel (Atwater Cocktail Club and winner of the 2024 Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award); Leo Robitschek (Side Hustle); Anna Sebastian (Celebrate Her and Tales of the Cocktail committee member); Amma Mensah (Reign Rum); Gareth Howells (Bacardi and Dewar’s); and others.
Additionally, the Africa Rising seminar will return, as will the festival’s scholarship programme. The scheme offers 50 scholarships with the purpose of lifting Africa’s bar community through educational, hospitality-focused courses.
The scholarships are open to African-based applicants working in the drinks industry. Furthermore, 70% of the grants will be given to women, which supports one of the festival’s core missions of increasing the representation of women in the bar industry.
Olson, who will lead a seminar, added: “In only one year, Ajabu has already proven – in my opinion – that it deserves a spot on the list of the greatest cocktail festivals in the world. You can be sure that I intend to be back every year… if they’ll have me!”
In other cocktail festival news, the first edition of the Gulf Bar Show will be taking place soon, from 7-8 April at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah hotel.
For more spirits events happening in 2025, we’ve highlighted a few more that cannot be missed.
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