Hall of Fame

Andy Watts grew up in Penistone in Yorkshire, England, and arrived in South Africa in 1982 as a professional cricketer with Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Within three years, he landed a position at the then Stellenbosch Farmers Winery (SFW) where he became involved in blending spirits. He was invited to Scotland by Morrison Bowmore Distillers to work hands-on at its three distilleries: Auchentoshan, Glen Garioch and Bowmore. He returned to South Africa and, back at SFW, he was tasked with transferring the company’s fledgling whisky operations from the R&B Distillery in Stellenbosch to The James Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington. He was appointed its manager in August 1991 and, until his move to Head of Distell’s Centre of Excellence for Whisky in 2016, he was only the sixth person to take the helm since its establishment in 1886.

Andy has established many firsts for South Africa on the whisky front. These distinctions include, as part of the Three Ships label, the first single malt, the first 100 per cent locally blended whisky and the first single grain whisky. His proudest moments to date have been receiving the World Whiskies Awards titles of World’s Best Blended Whisky in 2012 for Three Ships 5 Years Old Premium Select and World’s Best Grain Whisky in 2013 and 2018 for Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky.

After spending 25 years as manager of the James Sedgwick Distillery, Andy took up the position as Distell’s head of whisky in 2018. He is responsible for the company’s South African whisky portfolio, focusing on the process, quality and style of their whiskies and providing strategic guidance.