CAPE TOWN is getting ready to shake, stir and pour as AJABU Cocktail & Spirits Festival returns from 14–22 November 2026, bringing together African bar talent with international names for eight days of takeovers, collaborations, tastings, education and celebration.
Founded by Ghanaian bartender and drinks industry leader Colin Asare-Appiah and Mark Talbot Holmes, AJABU takes its name from the Swahili word for “something wondrous” or “miraculous”. The biannual Pan-African festival connects Africa’s bar community with the global hospitality industry, placing African talent, ingredients, flavours and ideas once again centre stage.
The sixth edition opens with the AJABU Tasting Tables on Saturday, 14 November at the European Bartender School in Woodstock. Across two sessions, guests can explore 20 craft spirit brands, cocktail masterclasses and educational tastings – alongside food, music and goodie bags.
From there, the festival moves into bars across Cape Town with guest shifts, pop-ups, collaborations, seminars, workshops, live music and special drinks experiences.
Confirmed participants include Johannesburg favourites Sin + Tax, Obscura and Smoking Kills, alongside guests from Mama Koko’s in Baltimore, Stone and Soil in New York, Bon Vivants in the Bahamas, Satan’s Whiskers and Cato in London, HERO in Nairobi, Front/Back and No.19 in Accra, and La Mamounia and Royal Mansour in Marrakesh.
The festival also brings a piece of Cape Town cocktail history full circle. In 2001, Asare-Appiah visited the city with Ghanaian bartender Douglas Ankrah, who later created the Porn Star Martini in London. Twenty-five years on, participating AJABU bars will celebrate the drink with their own interpretations offered at half price during the festival.
The March 2026 edition attracted approximately 2 000 attendees, with an even larger local and international audience expected in November.
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