Africa is ascendant in today’s bar world, and over the past couple of years, the AJABU Festival has emerged as a showcase of bar talent on the African continent. For this episode, we talk to festival co-founders Colin Asare-Appiah and Mark Talbot Holmes about AJABU’s origins, the way it benefits the African hospitality community, and what to expect from upcoming events in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Africa is quickly becoming a focal point in the global bar world, and the AJABU Cocktail & Spirits Festival (IG: @ajabufestival) is helping to showcase the continent’s bars and bartenders. For this episode, festival co-founders Colin Asare-Appiah and Mark Talbot Holmes share the story of how AJABU got started, discuss the many ways the event benefits the African hospitality community, and discuss what to expect from upcoming events in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
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Paul Clarke
Hey everybody, welcome back to Radio Imbibe from Imbibe Magazine. I'm Paul Clarke, Imbibe's Editor-in-Chief.
And in the years that I've been writing about and talking about and just overall enjoying cocktails and cocktail bars and the people who make cocktails, it's been interesting to see how each city or region or country can progress in its own kind of development and evolution and over time create a cocktail culture that's unique to that place. Over the past 20 or 30 years we've seen this evolution play out in cities like New York and London, and San Francisco and Sydney, and in Tokyo and Buenos Aires and Hong Kong and Mexico City. And now we're also seeing the same kind of development and evolution take place in cities like Cape Town and Nairobi as the progression of cocktail and hospitality culture takes firmer root across the African continent.
African bars and bartenders have enjoyed a big boost in the last couple of years largely thanks to the Ajabu Festival, which launched in 2024 in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and has very quickly become one of the world's signature events dedicated to cocktails, bartenders, and the hospitality community. The next round of Ajabu is coming up in late November in Cape Town with additional events planned for early 2026 in Cape Town and Johannesburg. So in anticipation of these events, we're talking for this episode with the two founders of the Ajabu Cocktail and Spirits Festival, Colin Asari Appiah and Mark Talbot Holmes about how this festival originated, what's been the experience thus far, and what kinds of projects Ajabu supports throughout the African bar and hospitality communities.
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Paul Clarke
Colin, Mark, welcome to Radio Imbibe.
Colin Asare-Appiah
How are you?
Paul Clarke
I'm glad to have you on and I'm glad that I caught you at a busy time because at the time we're talking, the countdown is running for several events in the Ajabu Cocktail and Spirits Festival in the days ahead. Now, Ajabu is an event that the two of you introduced starting last year in 2024, so before we get into the plans for late 2025 and 2026, fill us in on the genesis of all this. Why did you see a need for an event, a festival of this nature in Africa? And what was your goal in first putting this together? Colin, could I ask you to get us started?
Colin Asare-Appiah
Yeah, of course. As someone who's been in the industry for the best part of a few decades now, I'd always seen how cocktail restival has always been a space in a place of community and how they really uplifted the skill sets of the craft and how it's made it more professional. And I've always appreciated what that has done. Things like Tales and so on. And Mark and I were always having conversations around what we could do together around a festival in Africa and Ajabu was born.
Mark Talbot Holmes
Colin and I went to Africa in 2022 in November to visit some friends and to look at the African bar markets and brands and see really what was happening there. And we were sitting on the malecon or the front at Cape Town. And Colin turned to me and said, Mark, there's no festival here. Why don't we do one? It's something I've been thinking about doing for years. Because Colin's been shining a light on Africa at Tales of the Cocktail for many, many years now. And I turned around and said, Colin, that's going to be a fantastic adventure. Let's do it. Let's do it. And here we are. We launched 14 months later in March 2024. We've grown 100% every festival, March, November, March. And we are now coming into the fourth Ajabu Festival in Cape Town on the 24th of November this year, which we've expanded three times. So the timing of the festival has just been amazing. We've been amazing. And we've really caught the zeitgeist at the moment of people's interest in Africa. Something that you can't plan to do is, you know, the universe has been very kind and the timing has been perfect. But everything has come together. Everybody wants a festival. The timing's right. The support we're getting has been fluid flowing, which is something so unusual. I think when you start any business or new festival. So it's been quite magical, the effect of the festival and the way it's come about.
Paul Clarke
Fantastic. And as you mentioned, the festivals have been taking place in Cape Town and Johannesburg. But you're aiming to engage with bartenders in the industry from across the continent. Is that correct?
Colin Asare-Appiah
Yes, correct. We really want to be a space in a place from everyone across the continent, to have a space in a place where people can come together and they can, as we like to say, they can come together to connect, to collaborate and create. And it's a Pan-African festival. And we always try and ensure that we have representation from different backgrounds. We have representation from different countries and different cities in Africa. And of course, Hero just being named number 69 best bar in Africa at the moment, which is an amazing accolade for them. They've always been ever present partner with us. Same as Front Back in Accra. They've always been ever-present bars and now we're bringing on our bars from Nigeria, bars also from other bars from Kenya as well. And then we have our bars on the ground in South Africa like Sin and Tax, Smoking Kills and so on. And Obscura. And then on top of that we invite all of our international guests, which layers another depth of connectivity onto the festival, which is proving to be an amazing collaboration at the moment.
Paul Clarke
I was wondering about that energy on the ground, once you bring all of these bar teams together from across Africa and then inject these folks, as you mentioned, folks like Sips from Barcelona or Tommy's in San Francisco, and you have all of them mingling and sharing their experiences together. What is that energy on the ground like when you have these festivals going on?
Colin Asare-Appiah
Oh, so far it's been amazing. People have made real friendships over the last two years of being connected. One of the things that we've noticed is when Eric came, Eric Van Beek from Handshake Bar, when he came with his team, he was so enamored with what was happening on the ground, that he invited all of the bars that he had visited, to come to Handshake Bar. Come to Handshake Bar. And do a pop up at Handshake Bar. We helped facilitate that this year in 2025, in July 2025, where we helped facilitate taking those bars to Handshake for them to pop up because he wanted to give them his platform that he had created to shine a light on Africa and on the festival, which is, is a very humbling moment for all of us. That someone with his statues didn't have to do it. And he really felt that there was a need for him to get involved, as I like to say.
Paul Clarke
And we should note that, yes, this festival is about bringing these hospitality professionals together for several days of collaboration and creativity. And you've also aimed at the longer term education and enrichment and support for
Colin Asare-Appiah
Yep.
Paul Clarke
hospitality workers across Africa, communities across Africa through scholarship programs with, for example, professional bar training, Wine and Spirits Education Trust, Edinburgh Whiskey Academy. What kind of need is there for this kind of support and scholarships and engagement within the industry and within these communities? Why is that such a foundational part of what you're doing there?
Colin Asare-Appiah
Well, education is foundational as we all know. I grew up in the UK bar industry and we're at a point where, you know, you're there even here as well, when everyone's scrambling around looking for all those vintage cocktail books. And I was trying to remember those, there was a platform that we all used to jump on, which is very beta at the time. And I'm trying to think of it, who had it, not Drink Boy.
Paul Clarke
Yeah, there was the Drink Boy,
Colin Asare-Appiah
Drinkboy.
Paul Clarke 7:56
yeah.
Colin Asare-Appiah
Boy, yeah. Jesus Christ, that was a long time ago. But there's just this hunger for education. And it's amazing to have everyone coming together to actually be able to provide everyone with the tools to be able to grow their knowledge base. The scholarships that we have had with WSET and which other ones was it, Mark? Edinburgh
Mark Talbot Holmes
Whiskey Academy.
Colin Asare-Appiah
Edinburgh Whiskey Academy, that's it. We've really provided everyone the opportunity to really level up because you can only learn more, right? I mean, it's really important that everyone has a foundational basis for education and then the industry can just grow. And it professionalizes the industry. Like anywhere, I remember when we all first started in Europe and in America, everyone was looking to ensure that the industry had an educational platform which really provided a professionalism. And that's what we're doing with all of these scholarships. And everyone's really appreciating the opportunity to be able to apply for these scholarships. And it's changing the dynamic of the industry on the continent.
Paul Clarke
And also, there's been support and engagement with charities and community support. And Mark, I think you had something about that.
Mark Talbot Holmes
Yes, 70% of those scholarships have been given to women. And that's really important because a job is about the representation of everybody behind the bar, and most especially women. more women that can come into the industry, the better it is for the industry, all around. So it's an optical change that's happening that people can see. And it empowers a much broader spectrum of society to realize that they can all make a career in hospitality, who weren't realizing that before, because now they can see themselves behind the bar.
Colin Asare-Appiah
Yeah, representation matters. And I've always been a big promoter of that in my career. As you know, Paul.
Paul Clarke
Now, as we noted earlier, these events have been taking place in Cape Town and Johannesburg. But this past summer, you also brought several bar teams to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail. What was that experience like to share this kind of interaction and energy with the largely American, but also very international crew that comes together in New Orleans every year?
Colin Asare-Appiah
Yeah, Tales is, for all of us as we know, is one of the biggest cocktail community festivals in the world, and we asked to bring Ajabu and our partners to Tales of the Cocktail so that people could experience what was happening on the continent in real time. So we came, we set up a little seminar at the beginning of the session, which was standing room only, which is an amazing testament to the interest and the appetite that people had to get involved with what was happening on the ground on the continent. Also, we had the opportunity to showcase all of the bars that we've been working with. So, we had Sin and Tax from Johannesburg, we had Fable from Cape Town, we had Front Back also from Ghana, the guys from Hero Bar were there as well. And then we had Drinkery who came along as well from Cape Town to showcase their skills at Tales at a Cocktail. And then on top of that, we had our partners who had been to Ajabu before, popping up with them. So you had people like Tiffanie Barriere, who really wants to come here, she hasn't been yet, but she really wanted to get involved. We had Kapri Robinson and Princess, who had been before as well. Uno Zhang, who is the bartender's bartender just now, 50 best. He wanted to take part, and he did. We had True Laurel, Nicholas Torres as well, he took part. Atwater Social Club as well. Oh, we had Julio Bermejo as well, the agave master himself. So, you know, we had some really iconic figures who've already been to Ajabu, who wanted to come and get involved and take part in what was happening at Tales of the Cocktail. And it was an exciting celebration of what is happening on the continent. And it really demonstrated and showed the connectivity of the industry across the world. And it was just a proud moment for Mark and I as well to see the effect that Ajabu was having on the cocktail culture.
Mark Talbot Holmes
And I think it also made people very aware about what incredible talent and ingredients there are in Africa. And it stimulated and inspired lots of the top bartenders in the world who came about how amazing Africa is, how much talent there is, but also how many incredible flavors there are that they can take from Africa to use across the world. And so Africa is inspiring the rest of the world, the rest of the world is helping to inspire Africa. So it's going both ways now, which is fantastic.
Paul Clarke
Now, coming off this energy from Tales of the Cocktail, coming off this energy from the previous events, as you mentioned earlier, there's an event coming up in November and then then again in March. What can we expect to see from these upcoming rounds now that you have some experience behind you and this wind in your sails?
Mark Talbot Holmes
So in November, we are expanding the festival from 10 to 30 bars. We're creating lots of individual cocktail safaris in five areas of Cape Town. So people can go out over the five nights of the festival and be in Seapoint or Clew Street or Bree Street or Waterfront. And they can just spend the evening in those areas going around between five and 12 bars in each area, tasting cocktails and experiencing the celebrating the art of the cocktail and the incredible bartenders that are in Cape Town and have come from the rest of the world.
Paul Clarke
And then, you know, again, looking a little bit further afield, you know, now that you have some experience behind you and you've learned a few things from putting this together. When we have this conversation again, several years from now, what would you like to have accomplished? What would you like the impact to be within the African hospitality community when you look a few years out?
Colin Asare-Appiah
Oh, that's a great question. One of the things that I really would love to see is I would love to see the cocktail community as a whole viewing all the amazing countries on the continent of Africa as a place where they can go and grow their careers. It's very much as what you're seeing with European bartenders growing their careers in Mexico, growing their careers in Asia. We want to see that level of investment and opportunity happening in Africa. And also for a bar from Africa to be top 10 bars in the 50 best or winning one of the spirited awards at Tales. And I think it will happen a lot sooner than we think. It's a big, it's a big Hail Mary. Let's go. I don't think it's, I think it's, um, I don't think it's unobtainable. I think it's, uh, very close.
Paul Clarke
And Colin and Mark, we're heading toward the end here. What final thoughts or information should we know about the festival or how to find out more or get involved?
Mark Talbot Holmes
The fastest way to get involved is to go to www.ajabufestival.com and sign up. That will have all the travel plans on there about how to get there from outside of, um, Africa. You are so welcome. Please come. And
Colin Asare-Appiah
Yes.
Mark Talbot Holmes
We would love that and come and experience the incredible energy, life and excitement of, uh, Cape Town, which is just one of the most magical places I've ever been in the world. But most importantly, the people there are just so welcoming, so friendly, have so much gratitude, and are so much fun. And so it's, really exciting to come to Cape Town because you always discover new drinks, new cocktails, new incredible bars and bartenders. It's a massively thriving and growing hospitality sector because there's much amazing ingredients and food and wine to try as well as cocktails.
Colin Asare-Appiah
Yeah, exactly. And then also people can follow us on Instagram @AjabuFestival. That's really easy. And, uh, please anyone who's listening, just click on there and join and you can see and follow what's happening. Book a ticket and come. And there's twice a year. And there's a very simple reason for us to do it twice a year because it different people can come at different times of the year. And we're keeping a constant focus on the dynamic, uh, spirit of what's happening on the continent.
Paul Clarke
Gentlemen, thanks so much for all of your time and the information and best of luck with the upcoming event.
Mark Talbot Holmes
Thank you, Paul.
Colin Asare-Appiah
Thank you so much. And don't forget, always get involved, bruv.
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Paul Clarke
Once again, you can find out more about the Ajabu Cocktail and Spirits Festival online at ajabufestival.com. And you can also follow them on Instagram @ajabufestival.com. Just follow the link in this episode's notes.
And that's it for this episode. Subscribe to Radio Imbibe on your favorite podcast app to keep up with all our future episodes. We've got tons of recipes and articles for you online on our website, imbibemagazine.com. Keep up with us day to day on Instagram, Pinterest, threads, and Facebook. And if you're not already a subscriber to the print and or digital issues of Imbibe, then here's the perfect opportunity to change that. Just follow the link in this episode's notes and we'll be happy to help you out. I'm Paul Clarke. This is Radio Imbibe. Catch you next time.