Author: Boplaas Distiller Daniel Nel
At a very basic level, whisky’s flavour is formed in three places as it’s being made. There’s the grain, where flavours are affected by types, treatments, fermentation and distillation; water; and, maturation. Of these, maturation is where the magic happens for me.
At Boplaas, we use the best South African yellow maize we can lay our hands on. This gives a unique local twist to our spirit. South Africa has the highest quality maize in the world, so why would we use anything else?
Our water comes from snow and rain that trickles into streams. These filter down the ravines of the Swartberg Mountains into the plains of the Klein Karoo.
As for maturation, this is where our distillery really edges above the rest. Our spirit goes into ex-bourbon barrels for at least five years before we move it in old French oak casks for finishing.
We’re among the smallest whisky producers in the world and that gives me the freedom to experiment with different barrels to achieve interesting whisky finishes.
The barrels I have come to love in this process previously held tawny port. Boplaas has a long history with port and I grew up with them.
What makes a tawny port so unique is that the wine spends anything between 12-25 years in one barrel, which gives it time to oxidise and evaporate slowly. The result is an intense port with flavours of caramel, chocolate, dried fruit and nuts.
At the same time, there’s an exchange happening. While the wood imparts character to the wine, the wine returns flavours to the wood. The process makes the barrels perfect for rounding off a whisky. From the tawny-saturated wood, a caramel nuttiness slowly effuses into the whisky.
Not many producers make tawny port because it’s a long and tedious process. There’s also not much financial return, so the barrels are very hard to come by.
Our 6 Year Old and 8 Year Old Tawny Port Cask whiskies have become very popular with whisky drinkers, and are even sought out by collectors. It’s something I’m very proud of.
The 6YO was also named Best SA Whisky at Michelangelo in 2018 and received an Outstanding Silver at the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC). The Boplaas Tawny Port that was aged in the barrels beforehand, has also been named best South African port at numerous shows.
During the most recent bans on alcohol sales, I’ve been spending time in our cellar tasting through the different barrels of brandy, whisky, port and wine that we have.
It’s a real privilege to have such a diverse range of products slowly maturing in our cellar and it gets my creative juices flowing to see what is available for future whisky finishes.
That’s how I first got to tawny port barrels in the first place, and I’m sure you’ll agree once if you’ve tasted them – I’m extremely glad I did.
