Eight barrel tasters. Freshly braaied boerewors. One seriously good look behind the scenes.
Step inside Rocket Distillery for a tasting experience that goes beyond what’s already in the bottle.
You’ll tour our working distillery, taste eight small-batch and unreleased barrel samples straight from our maturation programme, and tuck into a Barrels & Boerewors tasting board freshly prepared by SG Café.
Good spirits. Proper braai. Very Rocket.
This isn’t your average spirit tasting.
Barrels & Boerewors takes you behind the scenes at Rocket to see what we’re ageing, tweaking, testing and quietly getting very excited about.
After a welcome drink and tour of our working distillery, we’ll take you through a guided tasting of eight small-batch and unreleased barrel samples.
Depending on what’s maturing at the time, you could taste Gin, Whisky, Brandy, Rum, Mexican Agave Spirit or something still very much in the experimental stage.
And because no proper South African tasting adventure should happen on an empty stomach, you’ll enjoy it all alongside boerewors tasters and garlic bread, freshly braaied by SG Café.
The barrels decide the line-up. We just pour the good stuff.
Come curious.
The important bit: what do you actually get?
Your Barrels & Boerewors experience includes:
The barrel selection changes depending on what we have ageing and developing at the distillery, which means every tasting can be a little different.
Eight barrel samples and freshly braaied boerewors. It’s basically research, just tastier.
Here’s where things get interesting.
Most tastings introduce you to products that are finished, bottled and ready to buy.
Barrels & Boerewors gives you a taste of what comes before that.
You’ll get first dibs on spirits straight from Rocket’s maturation programme — some polished, some experimental, and some still deciding what they want to be when they grow up.
You’ll compare different flavours and maturation profiles, discover what’s happening inside the barrels and get a glimpse at products and experiments that may not yet have been released to the public.
Think of yourself as part of our unofficial tasting panel.
Taste what we’re working on. Tell us what you think. Pick your favourites. Debate them with the person next to you.
You bring the opinions. We’ll bring the barrels and the braai.
Who knows? One of those samples might just become a future Rocket release.
There are few combinations more South African than good company around a braai.
Add eight barrel samples and things get considerably more interesting.
Barrels & Boerewors is a great fit for:
And don’t worry, you don’t need to arrive with a whisky vocabulary or pretend you can detect “hints of old leather and distant campfire”.
The tasting is fully guided, relaxed and designed to help you discover the flavours, stories and maturation happening behind the scenes at Rocket.
No snobbery. Just good spirits, good food and a few very interesting barrels.
Barrels & Boerewors is hosted at Rocket Distillery in Wadeville, Johannesburg.
Private experiences can be arranged on weekdays and Saturdays, subject to availability.
Selected Sundays are also available for private groups of 20 guests or more.
Private bookings require a minimum of 8 guests and can accommodate groups of up to 72 people.
We recommend booking approximately two weeks in advance so that we can get the barrels, braai and everything in between ready for your group.
Not bringing eight people?
No problem.
Rocket will also host selected Barrels & Boerewors events once per quarter, where individuals, couples and smaller groups can simply book their seats and join the tasting.
Keep an eye on our upcoming events for the next date.
Some of Rocket’s best adventures start long before the label goes on.
Barrels & Boerewors is your chance to step inside the distillery, discover what’s quietly ageing behind the scenes and taste a line-up you won’t necessarily find on the shelf.
Eight barrel samples.
One proper braai pairing.
Plenty to talk about.
Come taste what we’re working on.
Barrels & Boerewors is a guided spirit tasting experience at Rocket Distillery in Wadeville, Johannesburg. It includes a welcome drink, behind-the-scenes distillery tour, eight small-batch and unreleased barrel samples, and a boerewors and garlic bread tasting board.
The selection may include Gin, Whisky, Brandy, Rum and Mexican Agave Spirit, as well as small-batch or experimental spirits that have not yet been released.
Yes. Each guest receives a Barrels & Boerewors tasting board featuring boerewors tasters and garlic bread, freshly braaied and prepared by SG Café.
Certain dietary requirements and alternatives may be accommodated with advance notice. Please discuss any dietary requirements or allergies with the Rocket team when booking so that suitable arrangements can be explored.
Allow approximately three hours for the full distillery tour, guided tasting and food pairing experience.
Yes. Private bookings are available for groups of 8 to 72 guests on weekdays and Saturdays, subject to availability. Selected Sundays are available for private groups of 20 or more.
Yes. Rocket plans to host a scheduled Barrels & Boerewors event once per quarter. These events allow individuals, couples and smaller groups to book seats without meeting the eight-person private booking minimum.
Approximately two weeks’ notice is recommended for private Barrels & Boerewors bookings, subject to availability.