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Simba Jemwa, Showbiz Reporter
GIN lovers will be raising a glass of their favourite tipple to welcome back an annual festival that was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.

The Matobo Gin Festival which is in its second year will take place from 21 to 22 October in Matobo with cocktails and entertainment aplenty. The event has been curated to recognise craft among food, drink and music creatives from Zimbabwe. It is expected to have pretty much every flavour of gin under the sun, including lots of fruity options and the strongest gins on the market, for those who will dare to give it a go.

Andile Mthongana, the event’s spokesperson said: “We’re happy that we’re starting to get back to a little bit of normalcy and we’re hoping the event will be a date in the diary for people to look forward to.”

He said the annual event held in Matobo held its first edition last year.

“The mandate of the event is to promote Matobo as a tourism destination among the local and international populace, as well as to celebrate the Matobo handcrafted gin which is produced in Matabeleland.

“The Matobo Gin Festival gives a platform to local artistes to showcase their talent. For the inaugural event in 2021, more than eight local artistes performed in genres that included Afro-jazz, hip-hop, kwaito and house music,” said Mthongana.

A glass of gin. (Pic taken from Gin Observer)

On the first day of the festival, people are set to camp and experience canoeing, hiking and playing games while the second day will have live entertainment, gin tasting and networking. Organisers are still finalising the list of performers for this year’s edition.

At the event, mixologists are provided with an opportunity of crafting traditional cocktails from the local gins infused with indigenous fruits. This has given birth to locally crafted cocktails that are now on the menus of some of the local bars. – @RealSimbaJemwa