Three Ships 12 YO

Three Ships 12 YO, 46.3 %

This is a whisky from South-Africa, from the James Sedgwick Distillery. The Three Ships 12 YO is a special release in their Master Distiller’s Private Collection, available only in Europe (yep, that includes both the Nordics and the UK!).

The distillery is also well known for producing the Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, which is a single grain whisky.

The Three Ships 12 YO has been matured in small American oak casks. No word on how small “small” is in this case.

Here is some additional info I found floating around the vast interweb:

“Distilled from 30ppm 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 12 YO at Distell's 'standard ABV' of 46.3% unchillfiltered at natural colour.” source

You can buy the Three Ships 12 YO in Norway at NOK 780 (12633101), and in the UK at around GBP 45.

Nose: Quite shy initially. Mild notes of oak, vanilla and mixed spices. With time a whiff of smoke, more pepper, some earthiness. Toasted oak.

Taste: Medium body and a whole lot more going on than what the nose revealed. Peppery, for sure. Oaky as well, perhaps too much oakiness. Passive aggressive astringency.

Finish: Medium long finish. Still oaky - go figure. Taking on a bitter-ish side note as well now. I’m starting to wonder just how small these “small American oak casks” really are. Milk chocolate, vanilla, and again a mild smokiness.

Comment: Interesting, but too oaky and unbalanced for me.

Score 81/100

Sláinte!
-Thomas