Daveyton resident’s cocktails ready to shake up things at world bartending finals

As an inexperienced but ambitious bartender in 2019, Daveyton mixologist Thabiso Mabanna had a rude awakening after encountering an industry expert.

A graduate from the Hand Up Mentorship Programme, Mabanna had made a palatable whiskey sour – his finest work at that point – or so he thought.

After tasting the cocktail, the expert brought him down to earth when he called him a ‘crappy bartender’ because he apparently could not mix and shake.

It was a calming moment for Mabanna. He knew what he wanted, so he went back to the basics, learnt the tools of the trade and three years later, he received his biggest compliment yet.

At last year’s Bartending World Class South Africa finals, Mabanna designed a beetroot-based whiskey sour that the same expert who had criticised him three years earlier described as the best earthy-based whiskey cocktail he’d ever had.

“At World Class, you taste a cocktail and then pass it around for the others to taste. But he kept it, sat back and said, ‘It’s going nowhere’. I came back and redeemed myself,” he said.

It was a heartwarming moment for him because of what happened in 2019, and he now often jokes with the expert about how they couldn’t even shake hands that day.

Last week, during this year’s World Class SA finals, the mixologist had a blast, even though things didn’t go according to plan. Mabanna participated in three of the four events, placing sixth in the drinks masters brunch challenge.

“It was the best week of my life. You would think bartending is just a job, but the brands take care of us. Every challenge had a theme. For instance, in the Johnnie Walker Gold Challenge, we had to bring the essence of Scotland to SA.

“I created a cocktail and sang. My theme was the 1970s era, which was about song and dance. The fantasy centred on creating your own destiny like Johnnie Walker’s keep walking signature.”

The liquor chemist, as he described himself, is a University of Johannesburg graduate. Mabanna got into this industry coincidentally, and his tale is summed up in the five words you would likely hear from most bartenders.
“I was a broke man,” he said.

“I was lucky to end up with a mobile bar company that taught me how to mix drinks and that there are different flavours that make drinks taste a particular way.”

His job may be to serve drinks, but his main objective is to take his job further by making customers understand the process behind making the spirits and the stories that inspired the brands, which could inspire them to pursue their passion and create brands that would benefit their families for generations.

“It’s always nice to tell those extra stories to the customers. For instance, Johnnie Walker used to run a grocery store. From there, he started selling spirits to others but realised they weren’t that good. He decided to make his own, and a few years later, he’s got one of the biggest brands in the world,” Mabanna said.

Mabanna’s other passion is giving people an appreciation for cocktails, spirits and anything to do with his job.

“I appreciate the freedom and conversations. People always come and ask questions about the drinks I make. I get to have a nice intimate conversation and, hopefully, change someone who never cared about what they drank,” he said.

SA’s drinking culture

Mabanna believes when customers appreciate and put more value on brands, it could help to limit SA’s drinking culture, which he described as ‘unhealthy’.

“It brings more value to the drinking process because you would now understand you aren’t just drinking a whiskey or wine.

“Go to tastings. They will make you buy to enjoy instead of buying to get drunk. You would start to understand why there’s a three-year or 10-year-old whiskey, and that might make you drink less.”

Best cocktail he’s ever made

It is the beetroot-based whiskey sour that elevated and earned him approval from his harshest critic at last year’s Bartending World Class finals.

He made a shrub (mixed sugar and vinegar, cooked the vinegar with red merlot wine and mixed it all with a chai tea syrup).

“I mixed it all with Talisker whiskey and added a bit of lemon juice for balance. I shook it up, and it was magic,” he said.

Mabanna’s ‘Daveyton Cocktail’ – a “Go Slo” whiskey sour called Vutha Mlilo, because of the township’s laid-back nature.

Ingredients:

• 50ml Johnnie Walker
• 25ml barbeque Go Slo snacks syrup
• 25ml lemon juice
• 10ml cellulose
• Wet shake and dry shake to create a foamy consistency.

Syrup: Cook 250g of Go Slo snacks with 250g of water and 250g of sugar until it solves. Fine strain through a coffee filter.

Mabanna’s ‘Benoni Cocktail’ – a Black Label, ginger beer and vodka cocktail because of the community’s love affair with beer. He would call it Label Me Newsworthy.

Ingredients:

• 50ml vodka
• 15ml lime juice
• Top with Black Label and ginger beer reduction

Syrup: Cook the Black Label and reduce by 30%. Combine the beer reduction with ginger beer. Build all ingredients in a glass, top with the Black Label and ginger beer reduction.

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