The AJABU Cocktail & Spirits Festival is heading back to Cape Town from 14 to 22 November, bringing together bartenders, bars and drinks brands from across Africa and around the world.

Founded by Ghanaian bartender Colin Asare-Appiah and longtime collaborator Mark Talbot Holmes, founder of U’Luvka Vodka, the festival takes its name from the Swahili word for ‘something wondrous’ or ‘miraculous’. Asare-Appiah has been named one of the bar world’s 100 most influential figures, co-wrote the book Black Mixcellence, and won a Tales of the Cocktail Foundation award for best bar mentor in the United States. After travelling through South Africa in 2022, he and Talbot Holmes decided to set up the festival with Cape Town as its home.

The event runs twice a year and has become a key part of Africa’s hospitality industry, creating links between the continent’s bar community and the international trade, while putting African talent, ingredients, flavours and ideas in the spotlight. The November edition will be the sixth time the festival has run.

Opening event

The festival opens with the AJABU Tasting Tables on Saturday 14 November at the European Bartender School in Woodstock. Across two sessions, from 11am to 2:30pm and 3:30pm to 7pm, guests can try 20 craft spirit brands, watch cocktail demonstrations, join educational tastings, and enjoy local brands, food, music and goodie bags. All-inclusive tickets cost R250.

Across the city

From 14 November, venues across Cape Town will host a programme of bar events, visiting bartenders, classes, talks, workshops, live music and special experiences. A single wristband gives access to participating bars and festival events throughout the week.

Wristband holders will also be entered into a draw to win flights and five nights’ accommodation in Goa, India, in April 2027, courtesy of John Paul Whisky Distillery.

Confirmed participants include Johannesburg bars Sin + Tax, Obscura and Smoking Kills, along with visiting bartenders from Mama Koko’s in Baltimore, Stone and Soil in New York, Bon Vivants in the Bahamas, Satan’s Whiskers and Cato in London, HERO in Nairobi, Front/Back and No.19 in Accra, Churchill Bar in London, and La Mamounia and Royal Mansour in Marrakesh.

Drinks trade partnership

The festival’s media partner, Drinks International, a global drinks trade publication, connects the event with an international audience. After the March edition drew about 2 000 people, organisers expect an even larger turnout for the expanded November programme.

A piece of cocktail history

The festival also marks a piece of Cape Town drinks history. In 2001, Asare-Appiah visited the city with fellow Ghanaian bartender Douglas Ankrah and opened the LAB bar on the site now occupied by Chingadas Mexican Cantina. Ankrah later created the Porn Star Martini in London, inspired by a night at the newly opened Mavericks. Twenty-five years later, participating bars will serve their own versions of the Porn Star Martini at half price throughout the festival.

Ticket information

Early bird seven-day full festival passes cost R100 until 14 September, after which they cost R150. An eight-day full festival pass costs R350. Tickets and programme information are available through Quicket and the AJABU website, with further announcements to follow.

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