Mealies turn Cape whisky into the world ’ s top dop
THE best grain whisky in the world has South African mealies in it.
Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, distilled in Wellington in the Western Cape and made by Jeff Green, was this week among the big winners in London.
The awards were made by Whisky Magazine, which convened a panel of master blenders, distillers, retailers and journalists to judge more than 300 golden spirits from around the world.
“Winning the best grain whisky is a great achievement, ” said Green, with some understatement.
He explained that having South African maize in whisky was not all that unusual.
“Most whiskies are actually grain whiskies and grain whiskies are normally made from maize or wheat,” he said.
“South African maize really makes very good grain whisky. ”
Until the mid-1980s, Scottish grain whisky was made from South African maize, said Green.
The three categories of whisky are malt, made primarily from malted barley, grain whisky and a combination of the two.
“Any Scottish blended whisky of over 30 years old probably has South African maize in it,” said Green.
The distilling of Bain’s Cape Mountain started in 2009 and the liquid matured in American oak casks for five years.
“It’s quite a young whisky for the market, but in a very short time it has done exceptionally well, ” Green said.
He described the win as “unexpected ”. Last year, an 18year-old Irish grain whisky won the award.
He said the South African whisky was special because it used “double maturisation”.
“With Bain’s we chose an American oak cask that’s been used to make bourbon . . . We take our grain spirits and put it in the American cask for three years, ” Green said.
After three years, the whisky is switched to another cask for a further two years.
“It’s five-year-old whisky that ’ s been in two different sets of whisky casks, so the wood gives a lot of flavour to the whisky, ” Green said.
He said the American oak had “vanilla, toffee and banana” flavours, which made the whisky quite sweet.
“Those lovely flavours and aromas make Bain’s a very easy-drinking whisky that suits the South African palate quite well.”
Green said the South African climate had a big influence on the “flavour profile” of his whisky. “It’s a lot warmer here than in Scotland, obviously, and that accelerates the maturation process. It’s a fiveyear-old whisky, but it compares very well with an eight- or 12-year-old Scottish or Irish-style grain whisky.”
He said the warmer climate made the South African whisky mature quicker and helped to extract more flavour from the wooded casks.