Distillery 031: The story behind Durban’s finest craft spirits.

Whether or not you were a part of the craft beer movement, Durban is now offering us something new! Andrew Rall is leading the craft spirits market in Durban and we want to share his journey with getting the Distillery 031 up and running.
Distillery 031 was founded in 2008 by a man with a lot of passion for his home city, Durban. With all of Durban’s culture, traditions, beaches, features and waves to ride day in and day out, this was and still is the city Andrew Rall is proud to call home.
The distillery began in 2007 when Andrew converted his garden cottage into a tiny distillery, got himself a home distiller’s license and began experimenting with different malts. But, before his idea of distilling spirits in his back garden came to mind, the crux of the vision was formed after a trip to Scotland in 2000.
It was here where Andrew’s fascination for craft spirits began to loom. He became engrossed in the distillation process and the variety of flavours that could be concocted from single malts.
Rum, being Andrew’s drink of choice, became a special favourite with his first trip to the US, where he discovered multiple premium aged rums. It was after this trip that he converted his small cottage into a mini distillery to begin experimenting with all that he witnessed overseas. Being situated in a land that is classified as one of the largest sugar cane producers in the world, left the doors wide open for Andrew’s vision to spread like wild fire.
Andrew’s interest in the world of distilleries further expanded into the UK, France, Norway, Brazil and again back to the US. In this time away from home, Andrew started testing a variety of styles and techniques for distilling the best spirits.
Once returning to South Africa, Andrew jumped on the opportunity of craft spirits after seeing how well the craft beer movement took off in Durban. He opened his own distillery on Station Drive and named it after his home city’s dialing code, “Distillery 031”.
The name and location of the store tie in with his vision of capturing the contemporary essence of his home city and to portray its spirit through Durban inspired spirit blends. Andrew has described Durban to, “Hold a gritty charm that reflects the authenticity in all of us” just as all of the locally sourced products him and his team use to bring out the uniqueness of his Durban inspired tastes.
With a variety of spirit blends to choose from and a truly Durban styled venue, join Distillery 031 for a tasting tour experience.

The tasting tour includes:

• An introduction to the art of distilling and the Distillery 031 spirits
• Spirit tastings
• A tour of the distillery
• A meal and complimentary cocktail.

The tours run on Saturdays between 11:00-15:00 (booking is essential). Tours can be done during the week for groups larger than 8 people.
For more information, visit the 031’s Facebook page, Instagram page or website.
Alternatively, contact them on 0879414540 or info@distillery031.com