NEW NORDIC WHISKY FROM THE WEST COAST OF DENMARK
An intro to Stauning Distillery
…a chef, a doctor, a teacher, a helicopter pilot, a butcher and four engineers. No this isn’t the beginning of a ‘...walked into a bar’ joke.
Ultimately - and like pretty much every other distillery we’ve visited on our travels (and trust us, we’ve been to a lot!) - the distillery was set up on a shared passion for whisky and a fun ‘why not’ attitude, whilst challenging whisky norms - asking that ‘what if we…’ at every turning point.
Originally the distillery was in the back of the butcher’s shop, but quickly realising they needed more space the team moved to a refurbished farmhouse down the road and - in 2018 - their own modern, custom-built distillery on the same site.
Stauning Distillery came into being in 2005, in a shared dream between 9 friends…
Hailing from the West Coast of Denmark, Stauning Distillery is in the village of Stauning…
…situated amongst moorlands, farmers’ fields and a stone's throw from the coast.
Their whisky reflects their landscape - local barley, local peat, local heather for smoking, and all made and matured on site. A 100% Danish distillery, creating a 100% Danish Whisky.
The new distillery building, opened in 2018, stands majestic and almost other-worldly in contrast to the fields around them; yet strangely completely fitting to the landscape and style of architecture that Denmark is known for. As Denmark’s first purpose-built distillery, its creation enabled production to increase 10-fold, a good thing as their whisky has been winning awards and praises since launch in 2011.
Now before we go into why Stauning tastes the way it does, you need to remember that there were 4 engineers within the founder's fold.
Throughout the distillery we were met with ‘We adapted this piece of machinery from another industry’ ‘We designed this’ etc…From a mash-tun that’s a re-jigged storm sewer strainer to their floor malting equipment that was designed specifically by them, for them, and of course, their unique direct-fired still design; the creation of their whisky is unique in every way possible and 100% bespoke to them.
Every time they were at a flavour ‘decision point’ and could’ve gone down a more traditional production route they asked themselves ‘Why would we do that? How do we actually create a new Nordic style of whisky?’
They malt 100% of their grain on their own malting floor - a feat that only eight distilleries do in Scotland.
And within those eight some will only partially malt their barley as - let’s face it - it’s a time-consuming and labour-intensive process. These days the majority of distilleries use commercial malting houses, malting grain to their specification. So why do it yourself? There’s the saying ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’; they’ve malted their own since the beginning and it gives them full control of their grain and the ability to malt to their specifications.
Twenty-four copper pot stills. We’ll let that sink in for a second. Twenty. Four. At a distillery with a production capacity of 900,000l. And for reference on how small they are…The Glenlivet has twenty-eight stills in total - with a total capacity of 21 million litres! Also, all these stills are direct fired which creates a Maillard reaction in the still, a reaction that happens when you’re BBQ-ing steak to create that crispy outside layer - and also one that in this instance creates a chocolate, caramel, decadent nuttiness note in the final spirit.
This spirit character is then carefully preserved in their on-site warehouses, delicately ageing through the cold winters and moderate summers. And if you keep your eyes peeled you’ll find a secret bar in between stacks of barrels. Our dream bar!
Other Stauning expressions we enjoy
Stauning KAOS
Their signature whisky, this is a triple malt whisky combining malted rye, unsmoked single malt and smoked single malt. The whisky is then matured on-site in a selection of first-fill fortified wine and spirits oak casks and heavy charred new American white oak barrels.
Stauning Rye
Smooth and Fruity, this isn’t your typical spicy rye. Rather, a combination of malted rye and barley creates a whisky with notes of vanilla and citrus peel, freshly baked rye bread and ripe cherries. Enjoy neat or in a Manhattan with chocolate bitters.
