This article first appeared in the Drinks International Global Bar Edition which can be read in full here
We are starting to prove that Africa can mix it on the global stage. Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Egypt all have great outlets to visit and the energy and infrastructure of these scenes – and many more – is growing. Guest shift collaborations from 50 Best venues (1-100) are now commonplace, with the liquid-curious among us treated to inspirational drinks from the likes of Stockholm, Paris and Athens in the comfort of their neighbourhood bar in Nairobi, Accra and/or Cape Town. Seemingly, things are progressing.
But when you venture into any one of the leading cocktail-forward outlets in Africa, you get the sense that you are entering the doors of a cocktail bar that could be anywhere on the globe and therein lies our challenge: are we mimicking the west, without showcasing the vibrancy of African culture?
The guest shifts will slow down one day, and the brand money that oiled the machine could dry up with it, leaving us in a precarious position. Do we know who we are in the context of global mixology? If we struggle to answer that question, how can the world?
The Africa experience is hard to explain, but being here for any decent amount of time changes your life. It reconnects you with your source energy. Africa is home to a magic that we need to share. We can borrow the knowledge and expertise that developed markets have brought to the cocktail world, but we must go our own way. The opportunity for our cocktail scenes is to proudly project Africa to the world.
Connecting cultures
In order to do this we must inculcate our visitors in our culture. No box-ticking, fly-by-night guest shifts, but immersive experiences where visiting bartenders spend a week or more, taking in various locations. There is such richness to each and every country in Africa – it must be the context through which our cocktails and bars are understood. I call this vision Culture Connects. To give you an example, in my market of Kenya, there are 44 ethnic groups, with 44 different dialects, cultures and – to us bartenders – ingredients and flavours to engage with. In Ghana there are over 100 ethnic groups – I could go on. We must look past the transactional guest shift experience that pervades much of the world – flight, shift, hangover, flight, doesn’t do Africa justice.
The idea has been tested. Hero Bar in Nairobi hosted Shingo Gokan earlier this year and partnered up with Funky Monkey on Diani Beach (400km away) for a second round of great drinks for an entirely different set of cocktail lovers. It was epic. The inverse of this model has already begun with 50 Best’s West Africa chair Chris Beaney chaperoning a group of young Ghanaian mixologists in Italy earlier this year. There have been further adventures – at 50 Best 2023, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya showed up as one at a guest shift at Sugar Hall in Singapore. Now imagine if Africa curated a residency for three to four days in a host city with the vibrancy of our food, fashion and music in tow.
Budgets you say? In the spirit of ‘harambee”, which means ‘all pull together’ in Swahili, achieving this effort could be easier than we think if the collective beneficiaries contributed and executed against an agreed agenda. I’m convinced that this can be achieved without the need for liquor brands as the primary source of funding. To finance our dream, we may, however, need to venture where none of us have dared: the corridors of the state. Build it and the brands will eventually come.
Not like us
The catchy chorus of Kendrick Lamar’s track has been on the airwaves from Nairobi to Lagos, Johannesburg and Marrakesh this year as African citizens have taken to the streets to decry the wanton corruption waged upon them by their respective governments. It’s been refreshing to speak out for many Africans, but we also need to be very careful not to dislocate ourselves from the biggest spender in our economies. The African bar community must consider an inclusive approach to government – making sure government bodies’ personnel come with us on this journey. They should see what we do – attend our guest shifts, menu reveals and Culture Connects.
Internationally, we need to bring key government players along with us to events like the 50 Best Bars Awards Ceremony to show how well more developed markets create a movement as an economic block.
Africa shouldn’t be subsumed by global cocktail culture, we have an opportunity to show the world why we are a thriving, independent part of it.
Our sequoias
Despite the inherent diversity of our continent, I believe the international message should be one of African unity – we are stronger together. If a continental identity is established, we can then create strong regional references. Of course, we are still learning, evolving and finding out what that looks like, but we have a rapidly growing infrastructure that is laying the foundations. We have the Jumuiya Cocktail Festival, the Ajabu Festival, Lagos Cocktail Week, Accra Bar Show, the newly created Jumuiya Generation Next, the Nairobi Bar Show, to name just a handful.
These pioneering shows can be our sequoias – giant trees whose roots provide mutual support and nurture saplings. But the next step is interconnectivity; they must all work together to create sustainable growth. Beyond this, I would love to see an independent body created – by administrators, perhaps from outside our world – called the African Cocktail Culture Office. It would be a body that represents our interests and showcases what we do to the world.
Now is the time to plant the seeds of trees whose shade this generation of professionals may never sit under. There is a palpable excitement for what lies ahead, but we must too be patient, for, as the old saying goes: Wakanda wasn’t built in a day.
