For the love of Mzansi's whisky

TimesLIVE

a day ago

I began asking these questions after Alex de Ujfalussy, owner of online store Navigate World Whisky (NWW) and the NPF Tasting Rooms, shared reviews that Serge Valentin had given to some of his bottlings. For those unfamiliar, Valentin is the straightest-talking man in the business, and possibly the most respected. His site, Whisky Fun, may resemble a Xeroxed early rave flyer, but its words, and specifically its scores, are gold.
'Irish whiskey full of Austrian Riesling, bottled for some well-reputed South African company, love the concept,' he writes, referring to the Fercullen 21 Year Old, bottled exclusively for NWW.
He scored it an incredibly high 88, gave NWW's Glenlivet 25 Year Old 90 points, and bestowed 89 on its FEW Single Barrel Bourbon, exclaiming: 'This stuff is brilliant. Excellently done and selected, naturally.'
That last bit is most important. None of the above are locally produced whiskies, but because of De Ujfalussy's astute selections, the world knows we know quality.
'This is the first time bottlings available only to South Africa are getting recognised by the most acclaimed whisky expert in the world, receiving the highest of scores,' says De Ujfalussy.
'When international visitors come round, they look for these things.'
The message hits home: we are tastemakers. So yes, we have taste, but we also have makers. And one stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Andy Watts has gone solo with The Watts Whisky Company, but for decades he was the shining light at Distell. At James Sedgwick Distillery (JSD), he made gorgeous goodies for Three Ships and Bain's, which he pioneered because 'there's nothing as 100% South African as a whisky made from local yellow maize'.