Ogogoro is called Sapele water, Kparaga, kai-kai, Sun gbalaja, Egun inu igo meaning The Masquerade in the Bottle and much more in different local languages.
A CNN reporter, Christian Purefoy, went to a distilling factory on the
outskirts of Lagos and captured live pictures of the process of
producing local gin.
The process of making ogogoro is simple and illegal says Purefoy. The reporter met with a young lad named Gabriel who described the process of making the local gin.
The main ingredient is the palm sap which he has to climb a palm tree to get. A bucket is then filled with palm sap and drowned fruit flies.
After extracting the sap, Gabriel replaces the full bucket with an empty one and climbs down the tree.
The extracted sap is first mixed with sugar and left to ferment for seven days in sealed blue barrels.
Gabriel then places rusted oil drums over a hot fire and the fermented alcohol poured in.
The next stage is to allow the alcohol evaporate and then allow to condense by passing it down small pipes through a vat of cold water then it drips out into a bucket where it is now refined as ogogoro or kai kai
Purefoy says Gabriel and his friends tell him that he can make up to 400 liters of gin a day. He says it from here that market women come with their kegs and drums to buy so they can sell to others.
The FG was forced to ban the local gin after reports surfaced of the deaths of quite a number of people after consuming the alcoholic drink.
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