Three Ships 5 year old Premium Select South Africans are lucky people. Not only do we live in a beautiful country with a brilliant climate, we are also home to the World’s Best Blended Whisky!

Every year Whisky Magazine holds their annual World Whisky Awards which aims to select, award and promote the ‘World’s Best Whiskies’ to both consumers and the trade industry. The judging panel, chaired by Rob Allanson (Editor of Whisky Magazine) is comprised of drinks retailers, journalists, whisky writers, brand ambassadors, master blenders and distillers from the world over. The World Whisky Awards were held in London on 22 March and the Three Ships 5 Year Old Premium Select whisky walked away with not one, but TWO awards!

Three Ships master distiller and distillery manager, Andy Watts, can proudly add the titles of Best New World Blended Whisky and World’s Best Blended Whisky to the trophy cabinet at the James Sedgwick Distillery for his outstanding Three Ships 5 Year Old.

Upon hearing the good news I immediately got in touch with Andy to congratulate him and his team and put some questions to him regarding the Three Ships 5 Year Old and the win.

Andy Watts, Three Ships Master Distiller

WTF: Well done Andy, what are your thoughts on the win?

AW: This award of having the Three Ships Premium Select 5yr named as the World’s Best Blended Whisky is by far our greatest achievement to date. To come through 3 rounds of tastings against some phenomenal whiskies and emerge as the Overall winner is both a humbling and amazing achievement. We have always believed in our whiskies and the awards we have achieved over the last few years have obviously shown us that we are on the right path!

WTF: Can you give my readers a bit of background on the 5yo?

AW: The 5 year old was launched in 1991 as a blend of Scotch and South African whiskies. It’s origin was crafted after a technical visit I made to Morrison Bowmore Distillers in 1988. During that visit I was fortunate to spend time on the Island of Islay. A small Island off the West Coast of Scotland which is known worldwide for its incredible peated malt whiskies. I fell in love with the Island, its people and more importantly its whiskies. On my return to South Africa the idea of a peated blend was discussed and as they say the rest is history.

In the beginning it was a difficult journey because as you know peat is something you have to understand to appreciate in your whisky. We therefore knew it would be a long voyage and one which would need the whisky drinking consumer to be educated. With the help of tasting campaigns and the inception of Whisky Live we have seen the education levels of the consumer improve quickly and now the majority of Three Ships 5yo’s increasing consumer base know what they are going to find in this whisky. It is a whisky which Jim Murray in his 2012 Whisky Bible scored at 93 which on his scale rates “Brilliant” and he says “is the silkiest delivery South of the equator”. Maybe he was one step ahead? However this award bestowed by the Whisky Magazine includes the Northern hemisphere too… very satisfying!

Over the years the development of our own malt distillation program and the availability of more matured local stock has enabled us to slowly replace some of the Scottish component so that the blend is now very much proudly South African. Year on year we continue to face the challenges which working with peated barley and whiskies throws at you! I think what people still have to understand is that the addition of peat into the whisky making process and the blending of the matured whiskies is not an exact science. It is an art which can vary slightly so with each blend we work incredibly hard to ensure consistency.

WTF: How did your team take the news of the win Andy?

AW: This award will only fuel the dedication and passion which the team here at the James Sedgwick Distillery already have for their work.

Three Ships Whisky Cask There you have it. You won’t find the Three Ships production team resting on their laurels, they’re going to continue producing world class whisky.

It’s always a pleasure talking to Andy – as busy as he is running the show at Distell’s James Sedgwick Distillery he always finds some time to answer my questions. Thanks for your time and input Andy! (Now get back to work ;))

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Three Ships range of whiskies – you just need to have a look at the posts on my blog – and I trust that this award will boost Three Ships into the international limelight. I just hope Andy and his team have the capacity to handle the increased production volumes as whisky lovers the world over set their sights on this brilliant New World whisky.

If you want to find out more about this whisky, drop me a line, or visit the Three Ships Whisky website.

And for the South Africans who haven’t tried the Three Ships range yet, what are you waiting for? Priced perfectly for the local market there is no reason why you shouldn’t have a bottle or two or three at home. And remember, next time you’re pouring a dram of the 5yo, you’re drinking the best blend in the world.

Sláinte!