Drayman’s Solera Whisky

Not too far from the Cradle of Mankind is the administrative capital of South Africa. Here the majestic Union Buildings towers over Pretoria. This Highveld region was known for its pot still products like “witblits” and “mampoer” in earlier times.

In the shade of the Union Buildings, a small microbrewery has been making quality, German-style beers since 1997. It is not too far away from where Capital gin distillery is situated. During 2006 the master brewer, owner and manager of Drayman’s, Moritz Kallmeyer, expanded his vision. Drayman’s, based in Silverton, now also distils, blends, and matures Scottish style malt whisky.

After ten years of brewing pure malt beer, making pure malt, pot still whisky seemed to be a natural progression. Drayman’s Brewery uses the solera process on a small scale for their Drayman’s Solera whisky.

The Solera Process

In the solera process, a succession of containers is filled with whisky over time. At the end of the interval, after the last container is filled, the oldest container in the solera is tapped for part of its content. This is then bottled.

Then that container is refilled from the next oldest container and that one in succession from the second-oldest, down to the youngest container, which is refilled with new spirit. This procedure is repeated at the end of each ageing interval. The transferred spirit mixes with the older liquid in the next barrel.

No container is ever drained, so some of the earlier spirit always remains in each container. This remnant diminishes to a tiny level, but significant traces of liquid are much older than the average, depending on the transfer fraction.

In theory, traces of the very first product placed in the solera may be present even after 50 or 100 cycles. The oldest part in the Drayman’s Solera blend is 18 years, and the youngest 3 years.

The solera process at Drayman’s has a set of 8 French Oak Casks, each holding 225 litres. The first Drayman’s Solera whisky was bottled in 2009 when part of the mother cask contents was tapped.

The mother cask was then filled with the next oldest cask and that one from the second-oldest cask, down to the youngest cask, which was then refilled with new whisky. This process is repeated at the end of each six-monthly interval.

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Drayman’s Solera Whisky Review

The Drayman’s Solera is a mix of South African and Scottish whiskies.

COUNTRY: South Africa

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: This is a relatively dark whisky. It has a burnt copper colour. It is an oily whisky making long, slow fingers in the glass.

NOSE: On opening the  bottle, we got hints of sherry and marshmallow. There is a bit of alcohol bite in the nose after pouring, but it quickly evaporates. The nose has hints of Christmas pudding, oak and orange.

PALATE: Without adding water, there are plenty of spicy notes when tasting the Drayman’s Solera. Water smooths out the spices and brings the fresh fruit and oranges to the fore.  It is a mild whisky with hints of oak and bits of bitter chocolate.

FINISH: Shortish and ends in spice notes.

RATING: GOOD

It is a whisky with potential.  Not my favourite South African whisky, but unique nevertheless. We will certainly try to get our hands on the Drayman’s single malt to compare it with this Solera whisky. Drayman’s Solera whisky is available from the Whisky Brother shop in Hydepark.

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