DESERT Steelworks

The serve everyone knows, made properly. Kola tonic, ginger, lime and bitters. Cold, in a tin, by the case.

Request a case What's in it
  • 300 ml tin
  • 24 per case
  • Serve hard cold
The tin, standing upright and beaded with condensation.

01 The drink

Four things. The ratio is the whole job.

The steelworks is ours. It was built here, it gets ordered here, and every bar in the country already knows how to make it. Nobody needs it explained.

Balanced dry, sweet and bitter. Poured cold, finished cold, and it tastes the same at the end of the evening as it did at the start.

  • 01

    Kola tonic

    The base. We took the sugar down until the other three had room to work.

  • 02

    Ginger

    Real heat, not a flavouring. It arrives late and stays a while.

  • 03

    Lime

    Sharp, fresh, and doing the cutting. It keeps the whole thing tight.

  • 04

    Bitters

    The proof point. Bitters give it the dry finish and the length, and they're the reason it holds its price. Take them out and it's sweet. Leave them in and it's a serve.

02 Buy

Case only.

One size, one price, no bundles to work out. Delivery is flat anywhere in South Africa and you see it before you commit to anything.

R520 per case of 24 · R21.67 a tin Provisional
  • Case of 24R520
  • Delivery, nationwideR95
  • Two cases or moreDelivery free

Every figure here is a placeholder until you set the real ones. Nothing on this page charges a card yet.

Request a case Apply as a venue
Shot 03 / Case
The closed case as an object, straight on. Then a second frame with it open and tins visible. Same light as Shot 01, same grade.
1600 × 1600 · 1:1

03 Founding order

First run is allocated before it ships.

The first batch is small and most of it is already going to venues. What's left gets allocated by hand. Tell us where you are, and if there's a case for you it goes out at the founding price before any of it reaches a shelf.

One email either way. Nothing else, and no list.

Put in an email we can reach you on.

Request in.

We go through these by hand. You'll hear either way once the first run is allocated. If you ticked the venue box, it goes to the trade side.

04 Trade

For clubs, bars and venues.

Your floor already orders this serve. It's the one thing behind the bar that gets made differently by every person who makes it. This is it made to a spec, in a tin, ready cold, with nothing for staff to build and nothing to get wrong on a busy night.

Kola tonic, ginger, lime and bitters. Dry finish. 300 ml, 24 to a case. Case pricing from one case, better from five. We're taking on a small number of venues for the first run.

  • Trade pricing From R000 a case Provisional Tiered at 1, 5 and 20 cases. Real numbers on enquiry.
  • Samples Free, to the venue A sample case goes out to the venues we take on.
  • Direct WhatsApp the trade line If a form is not how you want to do this.
Stockist application

We need the venue name.

Tell us roughly where you are.

Pick a range. A rough guess is fine.

Who should we come back to?

Put in an email we can reach you on.

Application's in.

You'll hear back inside one working day. If it's a fit, a sample case goes out with the pricing. If it's urgent, WhatsApp is faster.

05 Stocked at

Nothing to list yet.

First venues are being selected now. This fills in as they open, and it will only ever list places that actually have it cold.

Apply to stock it

06 Contact

WhatsApp is the fastest way to reach us.

It's a real number with a person on it. If you're a venue, say so in the first message and you'll skip a step.

  • WhatsApp +27 00 000 0000 Provisional Replies inside 2 hours, 9am to 9pm. Confirm the number and the window before this goes live, because it has to be true.
  • Email hello@example.co.za For trade paperwork and anything with an attachment.
  • Company Registration pending Registered name, number and address go here.