Local Distillery: De Vry

WORDS Tracy Greenwood

On a Free State farm, three brothers are living their dream by distilling premium spirits under the brand De Vry.

A love of culture, tradition and the proudly diverse heritage of our country inspired the Du Plooy brothers to convert an old milk shed on their Free State farm into a distillery. Then they launched their very own proudly South African range of spirits, including vodka, dry gin, rum and… wait for it … cherry gin! We were curious to know more.

What do you farm with when you’re not making alcohol?

Grain: mostly maize, sorghum, and some rye. We also farm with cattle and sheep.

Why did you call the distillery De Vry and not, say, Du Plooy?

The Afrikaans word “vry” has many positive connotations. It means freedom and refers to our home, the Free State. “Vry” is also a term for smooching!

What made you decide on vodka, rum and gin?

With all the grain being produced on the farm and in the area, we decided making vodka would be the best way to produce distilled liquor with characteristics unique to our area. Producing a 100% natural barrel-aged rum is a passion for all three of us. When we started talking about a distillery, we all agreed that we must make a rum. It was a great development for us as a team to source and char the barrels, and experiment with the aging time. Our initial idea was to make a cherry gin, but to do that we first had to make our own gin. We began experimenting with khaki bush and cosmos, and the complexity of our gin stems from botanicals like these two typical Free State plants.

For more information, visit devrydistillery.co.za.