New Bryanston Retail Store

The last 14 months have been a harrowing rollercoaster ride - mostly a series of near-death experiences (aka alcohol bans) punctuated by very brief moments of steady footing and an opportunity to clean-up the debris. At the end of the day, we are still proudly standing and committed to providing South Africans with the best premium range and service of whisky and select spirits and wines.

Before the chaos ensued, we had plans in play for three new sizeable projects for 2020: The first is on hold for the foreseeable future, the second is indefinitely scrapped, but it is my pleasure to share the news of the third with you.

HELLO NICOLWAY, BRYANSTON

We are proud to announce that our second retail store is now open in the Nicolway shopping centre in Bryanston, Johannesburg, located on the top level opposite the Woolworths entrance.

The store offers retail only (not a bar) and, although smaller than our original flagship store in Hyde Park, offers a cosy and comfortable environment with an impressive selection of whisky, as well as select spirits and carefully curated wines.

Along with the store we'd also like to introduce you to one of the newest members of our team, Kudzai Kupeta, assistant manager of Nicolway. "Kudz" is a certified wine sommelier, and for the last six months has been responsible for building up our wine selection, while we train him up on whisky. (Although to be fair, he already had a good base from previous dealings with us as sommelier of DW11-13 restaurant.)

If you are in the area, please pop-in for a visit and say HI to Kudz! You can also reach the new store on (081) 081-8832. There are still some finishing touches and stock to come, but we think the new store has a great feel and we welcome any feedback.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Although the store has just opened, we applied for our liquor licence before any COVID chaos in February 2020! Once the 2nd alcohol ban was lifted we completed the shop fitting, hired Kudz and began to stock the new premises - expecting our licence would follow shortly after. Ha, what fools we are! Sadly, as per its reputation and all of our previous experiences, the Gauteng Liquor Board were nowhere with our licence even after a full year.

Thankfully, with the help of a savvy liquor lawyer and a few dozen other applicants in the same position, we filed a lawsuit with the high court, who then reviewed our application and granted an interdict to allow us to trade. Two days later our doors opened! 🥃