Award Winning Seltzers
Whatever seltzer you’ve been drinking – or not – suggest you check out the cheekiest new hard seltzer on everyone’s lips.
Look, life can be hard. Which sucks. But a hard seltzer? Now that’s something to get excited about. Cheeky Monkey is a newcomer on the South African hard seltzer scene and is already making a splash. A fresh, fruity splash, with oodles of sassy personality, at that. If you’re not up to speed on hard seltzers, they’re essentially sparkling water with a subtle kick of alcohol and a zing of fruity flavour. And boy, are hard seltzers on the up and up as the largest growing category in the world!
Cheeky Monkey started as a fun, new brand extension of Kumara Craft Gin – the first producers of a sweet potato Gin in South Africa, by Carl Barnard and Stefan van der Linde. Friends for years, they’ve always had a passion and curiosity for innovative and uniquely new alcohol products. They share an obsession about purity, always striving to deliver quality and taste – unwilling to compromise on either one.
Carl has been in the hospitality industry for 18 years, always been involved with beverages. He’s passionate about entrepreneurs and small business owners, disrupting the industry with innovative products. He’s a bit of a sports fan and adrenaline junkie, enjoying the outdoors with adventurous hobbies like powerboat racing and fishing.
Stefan was in Bloemfontein, most happy when surrounded by friends and family. By trade, he’s a Financial Accountant. With an eye for the finer details of business, he’s passionate about socially responsible and financially viable businesses that truly serve and listen to the community. His passion in life is to uplift those around him by restoring their self-worth. Nothing makes him happier than to see people flourish through small acts of kindness.
The Cheeky Monkey brand launched in December 2020. At a time when everyone else was brewing pineapple beer during the 2020 hard lockdowns, these Cheeky Monkeys were hard at work taking real and proverbial lemons (and passion fruit, and mango, and mixed berries) and making a low-calorie, naturally-flavoured drink. No artificial flavours here. Just fresh, natural taste and low sugar.
Stefan and Carl personify and reflect the brand values of Cheeky Monkey. They have a deep sense of adventure, curiosity and a desire to give back to communities. Based in Durbanville, Northern suburbs of the Cape, Cheeky Monkey is produced and canned in Epping. All products and ingredients are sourced and produced locally in the Western Cape.
Cheeky Monkey started out exclusively in the Western Cape and is now set to take the rest of the country by storm, with Johannesburg, Durban and the Garden Route next in their sights. From December 2021, their website will be up and running for orders too.
And their efforts have been rewarded. Recently, this new-kid-on the-block took home not one, but two Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards in the Best Spirits-based Ready to Drink category: a silver medal for their Passion Fruit Hard Seltzer, and the coveted Trophy Medal for their Lemon Seltzer. This is no mean feat for a brand as new as Cheeky Monkey at a time when alcohol sales and distribution have faced a pretty hard time. Take that!
Choose from their Lemon, Mango, Passion Fruit, and Mixed Berry varieties (or grab a mixed case for a bit of everything) which contain vodka, sparkling water, and natural flavours for just R350 for 16 cans.
And why Cheeky Monkey as a name? They believe, “Life is for living – be brave and DO the things you’ve always wanted to do. It’s so easy to be discouraged by societal norms, opinions, anxiety or fear. The name aims to encourage people to Live Cheeky – stop waiting for other people’s approval, chase that bucket list, say it like it is, grab life and really make it memorable!”
Read the original article here.