Still Oaky Distillery

Craft Distilling in the Shadow of the Winelands

The Western Cape's distilling tradition runs deeper than its international profile suggests. While the wine estates of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek dominate the regional conversation, a quieter parallel industry has persisted for generations — one that stretches from the brandy routes of Calitzdorp and Robertson to the newer craft operations emerging in the Cape Flats and Helderberg corridor. Still Oaky Distillery, located in Strand's Gants Plaza commercial precinct at Unit 5, 34 Mynhardt Street, sits within this broader movement: a specialist producer working outside the estate-wine mainstream, drawing on the same raw materials and climate that shape the region's viticulture without positioning itself as a winery experience.

That distinction matters when you consider the geography. Strand occupies the eastern edge of False Bay, separated from Somerset West by a few kilometres of coastal flatland and from the Stellenbosch wine triangle by a short drive inland. The area sits at the base of the Hottentots Holland mountains, where the cool maritime air off False Bay moderates temperatures and the proximity to major agricultural supply chains — grapes, grain, fruit , gives craft producers direct access to base materials shaped by some of the country's most closely studied terroir. The Vergelegen Wine Estate in Somerset West, for example, draws on soils and altitude that have been documented since the late seventeenth century. A distillery in this corridor inherits the same climatic logic, even when working with different production methods.

Where Still Oaky Sits in the Western Cape Spirits Tier

South Africa's craft spirits sector has expanded considerably over the past decade, but it remains unevenly recognised compared to the wine industry. Awards schemes that track the category have become a more reliable way to map the quality tier than consumer footfall or marketing spend. Still Oaky Distillery received a Pearl 2 Star Prestige designation in 2025, which places it in the recognised prestige band of that awards framework , not the entry level, and a meaningful signal in a market where many producers are still establishing credibility. For context, a 2 Star Prestige rating in this system indicates a producer operating above baseline commercial quality and meeting a specific standard of technical and sensory assessment.

That peer context is worth holding when comparing Still Oaky against the Western Cape's other distilling operations. Producers like Oude Molen Distillery in Grabouw and Boplaas Winery and Distillery in Calitzdorp represent an older, more established category of Cape distilling, rooted in brandy traditions that trace back to Dutch colonial production. Still Oaky occupies a different position: a newer, specialist operation without decades of estate infrastructure behind it, earning recognition on the basis of what it produces rather than the weight of historical reputation. That is a harder path, and the 2025 award suggests the approach is registering with assessors.

For visitors who have spent time at the flagship wine estates further west, including Babylonstoren in Franschhoek or Val de Vie Estate in Paarl, the experience at Still Oaky will feel markedly different in format and setting. This is a working production facility in an industrial precinct, not a landscaped estate designed for leisure tourism. The Gants Plaza address signals as much: visitors arriving here are arriving to engage with the product, not with a hospitality infrastructure built around accommodation and restaurant dining.

Terroir and the Distiller's Relationship to Place

Distilling inherits terroir at one remove. Where a winemaker at Sadie Family Wines in Swartland or Creation Wines in Hermanus can draw a direct line from soil chemistry and microclimate to what ends up in the glass, a distiller works with transformation processes that blur that line. Heat, copper contact, wood maturation, and cut decisions all intervene between raw material and final spirit. And yet the regional origin of base materials still leaves traces. Grapes grown in the cooler, maritime-influenced zones of the False Bay coast carry different acid profiles and aromatic compounds than those from Calitzdorp's arid Klein Karoo, and those differences persist, partially, through the still.

The Strand location gives Still Oaky access to a supply geography that includes some of the Western Cape's most carefully farmed producing areas. The Helderberg sub-region, which stretches between Somerset West and the mountains to the northeast, has a documented track record with varieties that respond to altitude and ocean-cooling, the same conditions that inform producers like Neethlingshof Estate in Stellenbosch and Constantia Glen in Cape Town. Whether Still Oaky draws directly from these areas is not documented in available records, but the regional infrastructure for quality raw material is present in a way it simply would not be for a distillery located further from the Winelands corridor.

Further afield, the broader South African distilling map includes operations that work with very different base material and climate profiles. Bezalel Wine and Brandy Estate in Upington operates in the Northern Cape, where the Orange River's heat and irrigation-dependent viticulture produce a fundamentally different raw material story. Graham Beck Wines in Robertson represents the inland, warmer-climate wine corridor. Still Oaky's Strand position places it geographically closer to the maritime-moderated, cooler end of the Cape's production spectrum, which tends to favour precision and aromatic definition over weight and volume.

Planning a Visit to Still Oaky Distillery

Strand sits approximately forty-five minutes by road from Cape Town's city centre, making it a plausible half-day excursion from the city or a natural stop when combining a visit with the Somerset West and Helderberg wine corridor. The Gants Plaza address in an industrial park means first-time visitors should use a mapping application rather than relying on passing signage. Website and phone details are not currently published in available records, so contacting the distillery in advance to confirm visiting hours and tasting formats is advisable before making the trip , the operating model of a small craft producer in an industrial setting can differ considerably from the open-door approach of an established wine estate. Pairing a visit with nearby estate experiences, such as Beaumont Family Wines in Bot River, gives the trip a fuller picture of the Helderberg and Overberg corridor's range of producers. For a broader guide to the area, see our full Strand (Cape Town) restaurants and venues guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Still Oaky Distillery more formal or casual?

Based on its address in Gants Plaza, an industrial commercial precinct in Strand rather than a landscaped wine estate, Still Oaky reads as a working production facility rather than a formal hospitality venue. The 2025 Pearl 2 Star Prestige award confirms the quality of the product, but the setting suggests a casual, production-focused visit rather than a structured fine-dining or guided-tour format. Visitors who have experienced the more stage-managed hospitality of large Winelands estates should calibrate expectations accordingly. Pricing information is not currently on public record.

What should I focus on at Still Oaky Distillery?

With the winery region, specific winemaker, and detailed tasting notes not yet in the public record, the most substantiated reason to visit is the distillery's awarded spirit range, recognised at Pearl 2 Star Prestige level in 2025. South Africa has a documented tradition of quality pot-still brandy and an emerging craft gin and whisky sector, and a producer earning prestige-tier recognition in that context is worth attention on those grounds alone. For comparable distilling operations with longer documented histories, Oude Molen in Grabouw and Boplaas in Calitzdorp provide useful reference points on the Cape distilling spectrum. For single malt context from a very different regional tradition, Aberlour in Scotland and Accendo Cellars in St. Helena represent the international frame within which Cape craft spirits are increasingly being assessed.