Akpeteshie Receives Global Attention At Durban International Trade Fair

Ghana’s local gin called Akpeteshie has been receiving huge patronage at the ongoing 2021 International Trade Fair in faraway Durban, South Africa for very good reasons.

Many foreign nationals have been queuing for the Apio drink at Ghana’s stand of the international trade fair.
Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Charles Owiredu who disclosed this on Wednesday was himself amazed at how much people out there loved Apeteshie and were buying it.

According to him, there was traffic at the Ghana stand just because of Apio branded name for Akpeteshie.
“So much traffic at the Ghana stand. Business and networking booming. The queue at the apio (akpeteshie) stand is something else. What is it about apio that people just cannot stop buying after tasting,’ he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday?

President Akufo at his second term inaugural address in Accra gave a huge endorsement of the product.
“I doubt that anyone would, ordinarily, mention ‘akpeteshie’, the local gin, as a possible item on the world market. I cannot vouch for its taste or potency, since I gave up alcohol many years ago, but I can say that the Made in Ghana and beautifully packaged ‘Apio’, I have recently seen, can compete in the most sophisticated markets in the world,” he boldly endorsed.

Regarded as one of the oldest alcoholic beverages to date, Akpeteshie is a homebrewed alcoholic spirit produced in Ghana and other West African nations by distilling palm wine or sugar cane juice.

Other names for it include apio, ogogoro (in Nigeria), sorabi, keley, “hot” or “hot drink” and “kutukù” (in Nzema).
Akpeteshie is not professionally bottled or sealed but instead poured into unlabelled, already used bottles. Although not professionally advertised, it is very popular and people love it because of its volume of alcohol.