By Kim Maxwell
Words and Photography

We’re in a leased company vehicle cruising along the NY1 through Gugulethu (Gugs). It’s a major artery connecting sections of the township with a fair number of pedestrians and cars on the road for a working Wednesday. My driver, Nicol Gongota, giggles as he recalls that he and other youngsters in Gugs used to hang out on NY1 to show off their hippest clothes. Now 24, he lives in a flat in the fairly affluent Cape Town suburb of Parklands. He’s well dressed without being flashy.

Nicol works for The Really Great Brand Company. He services what’s known as the main market, using creativity to entice black drinkers. They frequent inner city Cape Town lounge venues to Club Galaxy in Athlone. His area includes bottle stores, wholesalers and taverns, and extends as far as Worcester. Gauteng is where around 70 per cent of premium whisky sales happen.

In Jozi’s Rosebank, businessmen move cash for premium bottles at crowded bars such as Katzy’s, while a trendy crowd schmoozes to rhythm and blues or house in the lounge atmosphere of Molokos. But in the Cape, trendy city clubs attract late night revellers, who first get into a partying mood outside bottle stores or carwashes in Gugs or Langa. “The guys may have moved to Tableview or Parklands, but on a weekend they’ll come and hang out. Having your car washed is an excuse to have a drink. Next door to the carwash, there is usually a butchery for grilled snacks, and a place to buy booze,” Nicol explains.

Lakeside Bottle Store is adjacent to Gugulethu Carwash, and a small group are having their cars hosed while sharing beers and a bottle. The awning has the signature yellow, green and red signage of J&B whisky. Behind the grid-wire security hatch, Xola confirms that on weekends, six bottles of Jack Daniels Tennessee whisky easily sell. The store opens until 10pm over weekends, when regulars arrive. Glasses and ice are sold too. Nicol’s Hennessy VS brand also sells well. His Tullamore Dew Irish whisky hasn’t been pushed much yet in the local market, but the name is a handy play on the Xhosa word ‘tula’ for lullaby. In Gauteng, customers say “Shhh” to get a barman’s attention. The orange walls of Gqudu’s Place don’t impress, but it’s a happening hangout over weekends. Jameson and Jack Daniels line the shelves, plus Glenmorangie for niche appeal.

As we pull into a petrol garage, Metro FM is blaring from speakers. I’m fast learning that whisky and cognac preferences in the main market are closely linked to music. Artist Kanye West may be big today, but hip hop has its roots with 1970s gangsters in New York’s The Bronx. In Cape Town, house electronic dance music ensures spirit sales in the wee hours.

As the tank is filled, Nicol slips in a CD from US rapper, the late Tupac. His catchy lyrics are about Hennessy. “In Cape Town, they call the Hennessy VS 375ml ‘Tupac’. This 375ml bottle sells more during the week,” says Nicol. Hennessy VS 750ml retails for around half the price of VSOP. A newer artist called J Holiday on his ‘Back of my Lac’ album has lyrics suggesting: “If ya getting high smoke one for me, If ya getting drunk it better be Hennessy…” Hennessy VSOP sells for around R400 a bottle.

At Tiger’s Place, manager Candy Kakaza’s dad owns the bottle store attached to a butchery, and she drives a red Mini Cooper. Her whisky and Cognac selection ranges from Glenlivet, Glenfiddich and Jack Daniels to Johnnie Walker Blue Label at the top end, selling for around R1 700 a bottle. A well-heeled group in their 40s and 50s congregate at outside tables and cars are being washed. The men are celebrating a 45th birthday, chewing on chicken wings and lamb chops. There’s a nearly-empty Hennessy VSOP, an empty Johnnie Walker Black bottle, and another with a serious dent in it. “I’m normally a Jack Daniels man,” jokes Mshe from Langa. “My friends all drink Hennessy because they listen to too much rap!”



I’m back on the NY1 on a Saturday afternoon, in my own car. Hosting a Hennessy event, Nicol is driving a sponsored Dodge Nitro SUV. Gqudu’s Place isn’t happening yet, so deejays are warming up at a private party on the rooftop of Maphindi’s Butchery in nearby Nyanga. Meat braais on the coals and loud beats form background music to views of taxis and cars inching along the clogged street below. There are BMWs and Polo Playas aplenty.

When the party moves on, we pass Mzoli’s Place, a popular butchery with tables serving grilled meat. It’s so packed, cars are triple-parked on the pavement as attractive men and women lean on their open car hatches with coolboxes. At unlicensed Mzoli’s, bring your own is not only acceptable, it’s essential. Over at Gqudu’s Place, a Gugs deejay called Jazz isn’t drawing the crowds. Fortunately the focus is on Vudu Lounge, where the Metro FM deejays will do their thing after 10pm. A group of students are sharing a bottle of Hennessy VS. Gqudu’s is their weekend hangout and one is studying law at Stellenbosch. Toto works in human resources for a grocery retailer. He drinks Hennessy because of rapper Tupac, not even registering that it is an imported brandy. Brand consciousness is alive and well.

Nicol tells me he and two student friends started offering carwashes in Gugs as 16-year-olds looking for extra income. “Carwashes were already happening, but we brought in good-looking girls in bikinis. We were approached by the owner of Club Destiny in Rondebosch to promote his club in the main market on a Sunday. We’d offer a carwash and get people to his club afterwards—around 200 to 300 people went every Sunday. We told him what to stock in the bar and he took the drinks profits; we took the door takings. At our first gig in 2000 we made so much money, we didn’t know what to do with it!” The team approached Vudu Lounge next, and persuaded them to open on a Sunday. The club upped its profits by changing its customer demographics.

Nicol says main market promotions nowadays need sponsors, but the intrinsics remain. “Put in the bar what people want to drink. They’re not looking for a fancy place. Don’t get too strict at the door about footware. Those takkies may cost R3 000 and the guy might drive a Beamer. Instead of a club, open a lounge serving food and booze, with a VIP section selling premium whiskies and cognacs. They’ve been chilling at Gqudu’s Place or at the carwash in the afternoon. At night, a little house will get them moving and drinking more.” DJ Fistaz, bring it on.