Burnt wine, sixteen years in the making.

Sixteen-year Cape Brandy, pot-distilled in the Cape Winelands and matured in French oak — bottled uncut at cask strength, above 140 proof. Nothing added, not even water.

Join the List Tasting Notes

Cape Brandy · Brandewyn · Cape Winelands, South Africa

16 YearsFrench Oak · Medium Char

140+Proof · Cask Strength

Cape BrandyPot Still · Brandewyn

UncutNothing Added · Not Even Water

A word for it since 1672.

In 1672, an assistant cook aboard the Dutch ship De Pijl, anchored in Table Bay, distilled Cape wine into brandewijn — burnt wine. It was more than a century before anyone filled the first barrel of bourbon.

English shortened brandewijn to brandywine, then to brandy. Afrikaans kept the word whole: brandewyn. For a spirit bottled above 140 proof, “burnt wine” isn’t a slogan — it is the literal name of the category, in the language of the people who make it.

Cape Brandy is defined in South African law, not asserted by us: pot-still distilled, matured no less than three years in oak casks of no more than 340 litres. Cape Cask is earned on that specification — then taken far past its minimum, to sixteen years.

Vineyard rows and oak-lined slopes in the Cape Winelands — The Cape Winelands · Western Cape

Morning mist over vineyards and a Cape Dutch farmhouse beneath the mountains of the Cape Winelands

Why the Cape matters

Western Cape · South Africa

Our barrels rest in the Cape Winelands, among granite mountains and vineyards with three centuries of winemaking heritage. Warm, dry summers ripen Colombard and Chenin Blanc with a fruit intensity cooler regions can’t match — and the angels take their share generously, around 3.5% a year, concentrating what remains.

What Kentucky’s climate does for bourbon, the Cape does for brandy.

Distilled in the Cape. Bottled without fear.

If you chase barrel picks, hazmat bottlings, and honest craft, Cape Cask speaks your language — it just happens to be distilled from grapes.

Category Cape Brandy · Brandewyn — a designation defined in South African law: pot-still distilled, matured at least three years in oak casks of no more than 340 litres. Earned on specification, not asserted.
Grapes Predominantly Colombard & Chenin Blanc, selected for their fruity profiles and suitability for premium brandy.
Distillation Double distilled in copper pot stills — only the pure heart cut is kept, the cleanest middle of the run. Filled to barrel and drawn at cask strength, never cut with water.
Maturation 340-litre French oak barrels, medium char — new and re-used in combination, for deep extraction and honest age.
Angels’ Share Roughly 3.5% per year — nearly double the rate of Cognac's cellars. Every year in barrel works harder.
Blending Pot-still brandies master-blended entirely by taste, with no component younger than sixteen years, then rested so the flavours marry. Every bottle carries a real age statement.
Bottling Cask strength, 140+ proof (70%+ ABV). Bottled uncut — not a drop of water. Spirits this strong are classed as hazardous cargo: in Kentucky, hazmat is a lottery; at the Cape, it is the recipe.

Tasting notes.

Batch No. 01 · Cask Strength · 70%+ ABV · French Oak, Medium Char

Master-blended entirely by taste. This is the profile the blender balances, batch by batch: at full proof, nothing hidden behind water.

Nose

Ripe stone fruit, plum & warm spice

Cinnamon and citrus over honey, vanilla and a wisp of sweet tobacco.

Palate

Oak, dried fruit & crème brûlée

Delicate chocolate, caramel and nuts, a hint of coffee. All of it at full proof.

Finish

Long, velvety & warm

Elegant and unhurried, with the warmth only cask strength keeps.

Take it neat, over one large rock, or in a Brandy Old Fashioned.

From barrel to bottle · Bottled uncut

Sixteen years in the barrel. One bottling.

Batch No. 01 is small and deliberate. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

16 Years · French Oak

Batch No. 01 — Cape Gold

Deep amber, pulled straight from the cask after sixteen years under the African sun, with an angels’ share that works double time.

Maturation340-litre French oak, medium char — small casks under a warm sun mean deep extraction.
StrengthCask strength, 140+ proof. Bottled uncut — not a drop of water.
AvailabilityFirst US release. The mailing list hears first, and gets allocation access.

A discovery worth sharing

Cape Cask began the way most good bottles do — with a pour that stopped a conversation. Founder Daniel Brüderli first tasted cask-strength Cape Brandy in the Winelands and couldn’t understand why nothing like it had ever reached the American market.

So he decided to bring it there himself: sourcing small parcels of exceptional barrels and bottling them uncut, for the drinkers most likely to appreciate what’s in the glass.

Cape Cask is independent, founder-run, and deliberately small.

We publish every number that matters — the grapes, the stills, the wood, the char, the age, the angels’ share. The one thing we keep is the name on the gate: sixteen-year stock like this is rare, and we protect our supply the way a collector protects a honey hole.

Vineyards and oak country in golden evening light beneath the mountains of the Cape Winelands — Old-world craft · New-world discovery

Aged like a serious spirit. Born from wine country. Built for discovery. Cape Cask Company · Cape Winelands, South Africa

Gebore in die Kaap. Born in the Cape

Be first in line for barrel one.

Cape Cask isn’t for sale in the United States yet. The first release is on its way, and it will be small. Join the list for launch news, allocation access, and stories from the Winelands: nothing more, nothing often.

Talk brandy to us

Questions, collaborations, trade and distribution inquiries — we answer everything ourselves.

daniel@capecask.com Instagram — @capecaskcompany