#FanBoy alert - Bain's 15yo

OK - hands up I admit it, I'm a huge #FanBoy when it comes to Bain's Single Grain Whisky! It's one of only a handful of drams which I've bought more than one bottle of (so much whisky - so little time - so I don't buy multiples unless they really stand out). It made my top-ten list of favourite whiskies of 2017!

If you haven't tried it yet - buy a bottle - it will completely change your outlook on grain whiskies! My tasting thoughts were captured in a video for Whisky Friends.

Basically it's a single grain whisky made from 100% South African Yellow Maize matured for three years in ex-bourbon casks then re-vatted into fresh ex-bourbon for another two years. As you can imagine it picks up a load of vanilla and toffee notes with some citrus hints and some lovely spice!

Bain's was released in the UK around August 2017 as a 700ml 40% bottling, but was available as a 750ml 43% import around a year earlier which was when I first tried it. Recently Bain's revamped their packaging, the new bottle looks like this:

As you can see I was lucky enough to receive a bottle signed by the Master Distiller Andy Watts @TheWhiskyMaker thanks to the generosity of my whisky buddy @WessexWhisky



So nothing new so far - what's the point of the blog?


When I spoke to Andy about more Bain's whisky coming to the UK, he said "our whisky industry is young (40yrs) and when I took over 28yrs ago there was no innovation. The innovation we started is now starting to come through. Bain's is 10yrs on shelf in July this year."

Well, as you may have seen on twitter, Bain's have released a released a batch of 3,600 bottles of 15yo Single Grain and I was straight on to Andy to get the details: "this 15yr is the first in the Founders Collection range of innovation along with the Masters Collection on the Three Ships side."

Andy said "We released 2,000 special bottles for the VVIP guests at the Mandela 100yrs Centenary celebrations in 2018 led by Barack Obama." This was part of a pack with a Van Ryn’s 27-year-old pot still brandy. "It was after that the decision was to create a litre bottle (of the 15yo single grain) for duty free."

Like the normal NAS Bain's it's distilled from maize and spends its first three years maturing in 1st fill ex bourbon then is revatted for two years in a new set of first fill ex bourbon. Then instead of bottling as Bain's NAS it's revatted into older ex bourbon casks (3rd and 4th fill) for a further 10 years.

In the press release from Distell, Andy said:

“It took me ten years to perfect Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky and it was during this time that I realised that it has the potential to age much further than originally anticipated due to the flavour profile being upfront and complex,” 

“But in the world of whisky nothing is immediate or guaranteed and so I went about on an exploration, hoping that my experiment would not disappoint my vision.” 

Andy regularly tasted the whisky during its extra ten years of maturation, and found that the whisky was “at its most optimum” at 15 years.

The whisky is available now in South African Duty Free and should be in other world airports by the end of February priced around £60.

Andy - distiller and salesman!

Andy's tasting notes suggest that “The whisky has a beautiful dark amber, golden orange, honey and treacle colour with soft floral notes, spice, tropical fruits, banana and teak aromas on the nose. The sweet butterscotch, raisins and banana loaf flavours coats the mouth with a complex, smooth and delicately lingering taste.”

The 15yo pays tribute to Andrew Geddes Bain and the Bain’s Kloof Pass he built. The brand describes it as “one of his most spectacular mountain passes constructed across South Africa”.

The tribute to Bain will continue over the next few years when further editions of the Founder’s Collection of limited release single grain whiskies will be launched, featuring some of the other passes he built - we can't wait!

I, for one, can't wait to get hold of a bottle - now where did I put that passport.....