Hope Distillery (Hope on Hopkins)

From Hope on Hopkins to Hope Distillery

Samuel and Audrey’s video remembers Hope on Hopkins as a Salt River gin-tasting stop. The business now presents itself as Hope Distillery. Its official history says Lucy Beard and Leigh Lisk founded the company in 2014 in a Salt River warehouse, and that the operation has grown from gin into vodka, agave spirit, rhum agricole and collaborative distilling.

The name matters when you plan the visit. Older travel videos and articles use Hope on Hopkins, while current venue information refers to Hope Distillery and Hope Provisions. Treat the creator’s 2017 visit as an attributed snapshot, not a description of today’s exact tasting room.

What the experience can include

The Salt River distillery is the production home, with bottle sales, visits and the StrangeLove Cocktail Lounge for private events. The official site lists the current address as 7 Hopkins Street and publishes weekday business hours for enquiries and bottle sales. A tour or tasting should be confirmed in advance if it is central to your itinerary.

Hope Provisions Store in the Longkloof Precinct is the City Bowl tasting-room option. Its official page describes walk-in tastings, pre-batched mini pours with tasting notes, cocktails and bottle sales. The published experience includes a flagship gin tasting with London Dry, fynbos and Mediterranean expressions, plus other flights subject to the current menu.

How to plan a tasting

1. Choose the right site: Salt River for the working production context; Gardens for the City Bowl tasting-room experience.
2. Check the current format: flights, prices, food, hours and booking requirements can change.
3. Use a measured pace: tasting notes are there to help you compare botanicals, not to turn the visit into a race.
4. Plan the return: don’t drive after drinking; arrange a ride or include Hope in a private route with a sober driver.

Access, transport and responsible visiting

Both locations are urban venues, but the distillery, cocktail lounge and tasting store are not necessarily identical in step-free access, seating or toilet arrangements. Contact Hope directly with mobility, dietary or group requirements. Salt River and Gardens are best treated as separate route points rather than assumed to be walkable from one another.

Alcohol changes the practical side of the day. Keep the tasting small if you have other activities planned, use a trusted ride, and follow venue guidance around age, service and responsible consumption.

What visitor and specialist sources add

Specialist gin writing and older local coverage describe Hope as an important early Cape Town craft-distilling story, with botanical-led gins and a hands-on production identity. Those accounts help explain why the stop appealed to Samuel and Audrey, but the older material should not be used for current prices, opening times or the present venue layout.