Meandering the world, one whisky at a time

Wild Reeds Whiskey

Review and tasting notes Wild Reeds Blue Whisky SchoonspruitMy most read blog post of this past year was the arrival of the Wild Reeds Bourbon Cask whiskey. I found this interesting looking bottle at my local Pick n Pay liquor store. It’s produced by Schoonspruit Distillers in the North-West Province of South Africa. I have never heard of this distiller or whiskey, so I immediately purchased a bottle.

Schoonspruit Distillery is an independent business owned by the Henning family. Ernst Henning established the Schoonspruit whiskey distillery in South Africa in 1992. They are better known for the Totpak concept.  The Henning family founded Totpak more than 20 years ago. Totpak popularised the then unfamiliar concept of a liquor sachet in South Africa.

The whiskey is distilled with water from the Schoonspruit river (meaning clean river). The origin of the Schoonspruit river is about 6km from Ventersdorp on the Koster road.

The bottle is interesting in that it is the shape of the African continent.  Bottled at 43% ABV, it is pot stilled, charcoal filtered and aged in ex-bourbon casks.

This Schoonspruit Distillery Wild Reeds whiskey was aged for between three and five years. The label says it was pot stilled from South African grain and charcoal filtered to a bourbon taste. With no history of whisky making from this region in South Africa, this is a journey into the unknown!

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Wild Reeds Blue Bourbon Cask Whiskey Review

Review and tasting notes Wild Reeds Whiskey Bourbon Cask with glassCOUNTRY: South Africa

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: It is a fairly dark whiskey. It is a deep red copper. It is not an oily whiskey at all and comes across as somewhat thin in the glass.

NOSE: There is a sweet sherry nose that hits you at once. The sherry notes dominates the nose with some oak and methylated spirits. This Wild Reeds bourbon cask whiskey needs to breathe for quite a while for the smell of methylated spirits to evaporate.  After the addition of some water, the whiskey changes significantly.

PALATE: The first thought on tasting the Wild Reeds whiskey is that this is a bourbon. There are notes of marshmallow, dried sultanas and the familiar bourbon sweetness. It is not a very complex whiskey. 

FINISH: Lingers around for a bit and then ends quite sharply with some sweet notes at the end. We had to put aside our prejudice on this bourbon cask.

I was not expecting too much from this bottle. But it was not as bad as I had feared. It is not by any means a great whiskey, but it is sort of drinkable. Just let it stand for a good 10 minutes to breathe and for most of the raw spirit alcohol to evaporate.

RATING: GOOD

It might show a bit of potential if it was aged a couple of years longer. Have you tried it yet? What did you think? They also released a Schoonspruit 2010 whisky which I also tasted.

Related Article: Boplaas Single Grain Whisky



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7 Comments

  1. MoAfrika

    Wild Reeds is one of the best South African produce and it was good to find it jn our stores. Now we are impoverished without it, where can one find it?
    The online delivery is still suspect to most of us due to cybercrimes.

  2. Elise du Preez

    I am in posession of a Est 1990 Wild Reeds Red imported Scottish whisky. Red label on an Africa shape bottle. What is it worth?

    • Jeannette Wentzel

      Hi Elise, It is difficult to say what the worth is. It will only be a very limited market of collectors that might be interested.Thank you for stopping by.

  3. David Otto

    I have a set of the product, it is for the save a rhino project where you can adopt a rhino. It consists of a blue label and a red label whiskey and a green buchu bottle, all in Africa shaped bottles and packaged in a wooden presentation case. What is it worth?

    • Jeannette Wentzel

      Hi David, I have no idea what the worth would be. Where did you buy it?

  4. Could you please tell me if this whisky can be bought in Britain and if so who can supply me with a bottle? Thanks 🙂

    • John Wentzel

      Hi Nia, as far as we are aware, the Totpac company only exports to the USA under the brand name of Portashots. I don’t think this bottle is available in Britain. I have noticed though that there are other really amazing South African whiskies available at the Whisky Exchange in London such as the award winning Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky. It is distilled by Andy Watts and his team at the James Sedgewick Distillery in Wellington and worth a try.

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