James Sedgewick Whisky Distillery

The James Sedgwick distillery in Wellington, South Africa, is the continent’s sole malt whisky distillery. Established in 1886, it is the spiritual home of “Three Ships”, one of the country’s leading blended whiskies, consisting of native grain blended with Scottish malt. In 1993, the pagoda-sporting (!) distillery set aside a limited number of casks of malt whisky, to be bottled in 2003 as a single malt. Only 6000 bottles of Three Ships 10 y.o. single malt were released, but there are plans for further releases at some point in the future. Three Ships single malt is matured in a variety of casks, particularly ex-bourbon and ex-sherry. I very much doubt that many people would pick it as non-Scottish in a blind line-up. Nose with lots of fresh fruit, quite full and soft body, with malt shining through, and a slightly drying finish: a decent ‘Speysider’.