Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city of gold behind, looking for peace in the Cradle of Humankind, Glyn French found much more than that. She discovered a hidden treasure. Spiky wild cucumbers … which sparked the idea to create craft gins.
Spending most of her life in Joburg, you might assume Glyn French is the ultimate city slicker. Think again. Glyn is a bush lover – and about 15 years ago, she and her family traded the busy life for the peaceful, timeless and natural beauty the Cradle of Humankind offers.
‘We lived five kilometres from the heart of Sandton before moving to the Cradle. Gosh, so many times I’ve asked myself why we didn’t do it a lot sooner! Having been in love with the bush and spending most holidays up in Botswana, we longed for our own little piece of tranquillity, but just closer to home.’
After only one visit to the Cradle, she fell in love with this hidden gem … not for one moment expecting to find more treasures on her doorstep.
‘There is simply amazing botanical and biological biodiversity that is second only to Fynbos. Beyond the stromatolite fossils and the great palaeo record that has given the area its name, there is a deep and profound feeling of timelessness and untouched natural beauty that permeates the area.’
Having a background in advertising, Glyn found herself semi-retired when the ‘mad’ – as she refers to it – idea of making gin came along … a seed planted from a casual comment made when friends gathered at her home for G&Ts.
‘Dr Justin Adams is a palaeontologist who has been working on the fossil sites in the Cradle for many years. He became a close friend, and each year he would use our home as a base during the two-month-long field season. He and his colleagues would run field schools for local and international students to excavate fossil sites to conduct palaeo research. One year, a few became many and we had the team sleeping on every couch in our house. As a thank you, Justin arrived one Saturday with a case of Hendrick’s Gin.
‘It was a beautiful highveld winter’s afternoon and we set about making some seriously well-deserved G&Ts, but we needed cucumber to garnish and there were none in the home. With no shops in the area, I decided the beautiful and spiky wild cucumbers in the garden would have to do.
‘A slice in each glass not only looked stunning but tasted amazing. Someone made one of those throwaway comments … ‘someone should make a gin out of this’.
A month later the idea was still floating in Glyn’s head. With a lot of help from neighbours and friends, and many experiments using a small 5 litre still, Flowstone was born. A year of research, study and trials followed, and Flowstone was ready for launch. Justin became a partner in the business and now heads up Flowstone Australia.
‘What makes Flowstone so unique are the incredible wild botanicals that are quite literally on our doorstep. A great friend, Jenny Hyde-Johnson, who lives in the same area, took me traipsing over the hillsides, sharing her vast knowledge of the plants in the area. I did about 70 single botanical distillations to see what would work and what wouldn’t. Some just did not and were shelved. Others were ruled out either because of rarity or they were an important food source for animals in the area and could not be harvested ethically or sustainably. As it is, the wild botanicals we use in Flowstone are now all harvested within fenced areas around the homes here – so we do not impact the wilderness part of the environment.’
While Glyn was the original driving force behind Flowstone, her son Mark, a qualified forensic psychologist, heads up a small tight-knit team, to produce a range of gins that’s authentically African.
‘In 2019, we became the only ever gin range to hold three double-gold medals from South Africa’s largest spirits competition, the Michelangelo Awards. In 2020 we were the highest awarded SA gin range at the IWSC, the world’s largest and most competitive spirits competition.’
Most recently, Flowstone scooped three awards at the 2021 International Spirits Challenge. These coveted awards will take Flowstone’s award count up to 21 since its launch just four years ago. Impressive!
And there’s no stopping them yet. ‘I have at least three to four more gins up my sleeve and working on special limited offers for online only. And I’m also toying with the idea of complementary food products. Watch this space.’
Oh … we’re watching. And enjoying a Flowstone G&T while we wait!
About Flowstone Gins:
The name Flowstone comes from the rock formations that defines the area, and each gin is intrinsically linked to The Cradle.
The bushwillow we use has beautiful, winged seed pods, large enough to comfortably fill an adult’s cupped hand. The fruit in Flowstone Bushwillow Gin results in a full-flavoured sip with unusual and seductive woody, earthy notes.
The iconic fruit of Africa, marula has been enjoyed by man and elephants alike over the millennia. Flowstone Marula Gin delivers a luscious marula bouquet that primes the palate for the soft tang that floods the mouth.
As its colours change from speckled green to a distinctive swirling orange, the wild cucumber’s vibrant but subtle flavours of green melon and kiwi emerge. Flowstone Wild Cucumber Gin is smooth and refreshing, the perfect everyday sipper.
The snuffbox tree gets its name from its small dark fruit which used to be hollowed out to store snuff in. Flowstone Snuffbox Gin is produced in limited quantities, but its burnt caramel, coffee and vanilla notes make it worth hunting down.
Shop the range online at flowstone.co.za or get it at Makro and Takealot. From R385 per bottle.
Details: Follow them on Facebook, @FlowstoneGin and Instagram @flowstonegin.
WIN! One lucky reader can win a Flowstone Gin range hamper worth R2 000.Simply like GetItPretoria on Facebook and tag a gin-sipper-friend in the comments section. Entries close July 23. Prizes will only be delivered once the alcohol ban is lifted.
Glyn’s wild cucumber julep recipe
You’ll need: 50ml Flowstone Wild Cucumber Gin; 20ml fresh lime juice; 15ml simple syrup; 2 to 4 mint leaves
How to: Drop your Flowstone Wild Cucumber Gin, fresh lime juice, simple syrup and mint leaves into your shaker then get your arms moving. After mixing thoroughly, fine-strain it into a chilled gin goblet, before adding three mint leaves and ice. Muddle the mint just before serving for a deliciously refreshing cocktail.
* Text: JEAN-ELIZE MARAIS.
