You
will be hard-pressed to still find a bottle of the Three Ships 10 Year Old
Single Malt, released in limited-quantities in October 2012. But if you were one
of the lucky few to add a bottle to your collection, then the latest gold award
achieved at the 2014 International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) held in
London recently, certainly adds to its rarity.
The
international panel of judges praised the proudly South African single malt, for
its “Rich, full malty nose with bakery dough and ripe stone fruit. Some apricot
and pear. Gracious entry with slow spread of flavours. Malt dried fruit and some
very pleasant vanilla notes. Little wisp of attractive smoke. Firm, light and
clean with beautiful balance. Full fruited finish with some mature notes
beginning to show.”
![]() |
IWSC Gold Winning Three Ships 10 Year Old |
Launched
in 2003, as a limited release, the Three Ships 10 Year Old is South Africa’s
first single malt whisky. Since then three additions were released in 2010, 2011
and 2012, commemorating the epic voyages of Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco da Gama and
Jan van Riebeeck in a special collectors’ series.
The
whisky is crafted at the James Sedgwick’s Distillery in Wellington, by master
distiller Andy Watts, from the finest malted barley and aged for a minimum of 10
years in specially selected American oak casks of varying ages. The older,
smaller casks, contributed to the exceptional smoothness of the whisky whilst
the younger American Oak casks brought fruit and oak flavours to the fore.
Source: De Kock Communications