Three Ships first UK release

Unless you live in South Africa you may not of heard of the @ThreeShipsSA brand, it sits alongside @BainsWhisky in the portfolio of Distell's James Sedgwick Distillery.

A few of us were lucky enough to try a couple of samples of Three Ships last year, two 35PPM peated  Single Malts - an 8yo and 10yo - you can read my thoughts here!

After months, if not years, of hassling Distell they have finally released a Three Ships whisky in the UK, let's see what it's like!

First a little information about the distillery...

There is only one commercial distillery in South Africa the James Sedgwick Distillery which was built in 1886.

Photo@ Bain's website

It's located less than an hour north east of Cape Town in the city of Wellington.

It's owned by Distell and home to a number of whisky brands including:

They have a great animation on their Three Ships
website explaining how whisky is made.

Single Grains - marketed under the Bain's brand and available in the UK, Germany and certain US states.

Single Malts - peated and unpeated marketed under the Three Ships brand, launched in 1977, and traditionally only available in South Africa.

Blended whisky - marketed under the Three Ships, Harriers and Knights brands again only available in South Africa.

Distell also own Deanston, Tobermory and Bunnahabhain in Scotland - available worldwide!

James Sedgwick's Master Distiller is Andy Watts, originally from Yorkshire, he was a County Cricketer for Derbyshire. During the English Winter he played, taught and worked in South Africa. When he was released from his contract in 1984 he went back to South Africa and worked in Stellenbosch Farmers Winery and never left! His first job was to close down the Robertson and Buxton Distillery (R&B) in Stellenbosch where Three Ships was launched in 1977 and move the whisky operations across to the James Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington.

After a stint learning the art of whisky making at Morrison Bowmore Distillers in Scotland, Andy was appointed as only the sixth Master Distiller of The James Sedgwick Distillery, he was awarded the global Icon of Whisky Master Distiller/Master Blender for 2018.

Andy now spends his time as Distell's Global Head of Whisky Intrinsic Excellence!

This is the first release in the Master Distiller's Private Collection - the first official release exported from South Africa to Europe. It's also the oldest Single Malt that the distillery has ever released, the 15yr Pinotage was a blend.

Distilled from 35ppm barley (Scottish sourced peated barley) in 2007, coming off the stills at around 68% ABV. Andy selected a combination of older and younger small American oak casks to mature the whisky in, 90% refill and 10% first fill. South Africa's climate ensured that the whisky was still around 65% after 12 years. It was then bottled as a 12yo at Distell's 'standard ABV' of 46.3% unchill filtered at natural colour.

Distillery notes:

Although the warmer South African climate results in a much higher Angel's Share, the accelerated interaction between the spirit, cask and atmosphere, give rise to a spectacular single malt with depth of flavour, balance and extraordinary smoothness.

 

 

Layers of shortbread, dried fruit, soft leather, cherries, roasted nuts with notes of floral and mocha unravel on the nose. The evident smoky, peaty influence is complemented by pepper, dried peaches, citrus, hints of Christmas Pudding and an earthiness that reminds of a pine forest. The finish is warm, creamy and savoury with delicate liquorice that lingers in the mouth.

My thoughts:

Appearance: Pale gold in the glass, very Islay like, swirls cling as a thin line taking a while to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.

  

 

 

Nose: Peat smoke dominates the nose, as soon as you pour the dram into the glass you can smell it. There's some cereal and nut notes (flapjack?) along with a slight salinity - again a hint of Islay. A little time in the glass and some air reveals orchard fruit and berry notes.

 

Palate: Smooth sweet arrival, honey or maple syrup which is immediately overtaken by the peat smoke, this time heathery - maybe similar to an Ardmore? Orchard fruit again comes to the fore, there's some herbal notes and a little dried fruit. Holding the liquid on the tongue gives some citrus zing then as the liquid disappears the smoke comes back, very drying - yummy!

 

Finish: Long lingering smoke, a little orchard fruit and honey.

 

Overall: A lovely dram, if you didn't know better you might suggest a Caol Ila or Ardmore, the smoke is Highland, herbal and a little salty. But this dram has a depth which offers a little more - orchard fruit, citrus and honey sweetness.  

 

The tasting notes suggest Christmas Pudding and dried fruit, who am I to argue with a Master Distiller but I didn't get too much of them. This was 100% ex-bourbon matured so I'm not sure where the Christmas notes would come from. For me the whisky was dryer (yummy!) - a little more like ashy than you'd get with a sherry matured peated dram which would give the smoky dried fruit and Christmas notes. 

That's not to say it isn't a great Christmas dram - the nights are closing in, the Christmas tree will be up soon, the fires will be lit and we'll all start getting reflective! Two funerals in the last two weeks have got me in that reflective mood already and this is the perfect dram to share those silent contemplative moments with.

Hats off to Andy and the team for this bottling and Distell for finally listening to reason and releasing it in the UK! This bottle won't last long and I'm already looking forward to the next and the next release.

Geeky stuff:

The distillery notes said "Although the warmer South African climate results in a much higher Angel Share" but as I explained the ABV change from going into the cask and coming out 12 years later was only around 3% from 68% to 65% - how come it so low?

In Scotland you might see a loss of  6% in Campbeltown over the same period 63.5% going in and 57.5% coming out or the warmer Highlands a loss of 8% from 63.5% going in and 55.5% coming out contributing to higher maturation loss. The liquid quality loss isn't as great as in South Africa.

Andy explains that South Africa is "a predominantly hot, dry country & we tend to hold ABV or slightly gain or slightly lose. We lose the water / alcohol around the same pace so we lose volume and not so much ABV. In Scotland where it is cool (cold) wet climate then the maturation loss is alcohol / water so you tend to find the ABV declines in the older whiskies released from maturation."