Andy Watts’ career did not start out with any intention of becoming a master distiller. “I originally came to South Africa in 1982 as a young professional cricketer escaping the cold English winters,” says Watts, Master Distiller at Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky.
After two seasons of back and forth he decided to make South Africa his home in October 1984.
Throughout those early days in South Africa, as though almost by destiny, he had many moments of being in the right place at the right time on more than one occasion. “As part of my cricketing contract, I was obliged to do part time work for a sponsor, Stellenbosch Farmers Winery (SFW), the company which later merged to become what is known today as Distell, and entered the spirits industry on a permanent basis with them in 1984.”
It was during that time that he was invited to Scotland on a technical exchange program with Morrison Bowmore Distillers. “I spent time working at their Glen Garioch and Auchentoshan distilleries, as well as time on the Isle of Islay at their legendary Bowmore distillery.”
Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky
The concept for Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky started in 1999 when Watts and his colleagues recognized that the demographic as well as the sex and age of the whisky drinker was changing. “We wanted to create a whisky which would appeal to this ‘new’ market, one which had the sweetness of the American Bourbons and the smoothness of the Irish style of whisky,” says Watts. They chose a single grain whisky. For those who don’t know, single grain whisky is distilled at one distillery and just having one grain, yellow maize or as you know it corn. “The spirit is then matured for the minimum period of three years in ex-Bourbon once filled casks and then re-vatted into a fresh set of ex-Bourbon once filled casks for a further period of between 18 and 30 months.” This gives a natural sweetness to the whisky while the grain guarantees the smoothness.
Since its launch it has garnered several international awards including: Six consecutive gold medals at the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) held in London on an annual basis, Gold at 2013 San Francisco Spirits Competition, Double Gold at the 2013 New York International Spirits Competition, Gold at the 2014 New York International Spirits Competition and was awarded the title of World’s Best Grain Whisky at the 2013 World Whisky Awards.
The James Sedgwick Distillery where Bain’s is produced is the only commercial whisky distillery in Africa. “There are a few craft distilleries in the country but they are very small,” says Watts. At their distillery and across our brands, they have at any given time, 150,000 casks in maturation. “Since our whisky has the same three year maturation law before it can be called a whisky as they do in Scotland, we have to plan ahead continuously to ensure we can meet the demand as the popularity of our whiskies grow.”
The Spirits Culture in South Africa
Until 1994 the spirits segment in South Africa was dominated by Brandy. “South Africa makes some of the best Brandy in the world. However, after 1994 and the country’s acceptance back into the global village international and iconic whisky brands started to enter South Africa and with a changing consumer market which covers all demographics, sexes and ages, whisky started to become the spirits drink of choice.” Whisky is now the number one spirit in terms of volume and, as a country, South Africa is now the 6th largest consumer of Scotch whisky in the World according to a study done by the Scotch Whisky Association in 2013.
Climate Impact on Whisky
The climate in the Western Cape of South Africa is hot with dry summers and cool, wet winters. “We have a plentiful supply of water to be able to make whisky the whole year round as well as access to a tremendous source and exceptional quality raw material in South African yellow maize (corn).” The hot summers lead to a much higher maturation loss of approximately 4% – 5% a/v per year (Angel’s Share) but at the same time this lends itself to an accelerated maturation process meaning that their whiskies tend to portray themselves as being much older, smoother and sophisticated at a younger age. This is very similar to the whiskies of Kavalan in Taiwan.
Being a relatively young whisky producing country (only 38 years since the first South African commercial whisky was launched), they don’t have the 500 years of tradition which their Northern Hemisphere colleagues have. “Therefore, although we have the utmost respect for that tradition, we are not held back and we are still able to be innovative within the legislation of what is whisky,” says Watts.
Their whiskies may have started off in South Africa being of the same style as Scotch whisky but they have, over the years, developed their own styles. “We are now firmly established in the ‘New World Whisky’ segment and the awards show the global acceptance of what we are trying to achieve.”
The James Sedgwick Distillery
In addition to Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky Watts also produces the range of Three Ships Whiskies. “When I became responsible for the company’s whisky portfolio in 1991, it consisted of only one whisky namely Three Ships Select.” At the James Sedgwick’s Distillery in Wellington they then went on to craft and expand the Three Ships range of whiskies to include the Three Ships Bourbon Cask Finish, Three Ships Premium Select 5 Year Old, the limited-edition Three Ships 10 Year Old Single Malt and more recently they launched South Africa’s first Single Cask whisky. “The Three Ships 10 Year Old Single Malt Single Cask PX Finish was finished for the last 14 months in a PX (Pedro Ximenez) Sherry cask.” They launched only 800 bottles which sold out in under forty-eight hours. “Behind the scenes we are always looking at future possibilities and this is one of the more exciting parts of my work.”
All images courtesy of Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky
