Blog post: the whisky fair and Danish small batches - by Mads Thorup

Post by Mads Thorup
The Danish whisky market has grown markedly over the past 10-15 years, and there are by now more than 40 Danish distilleries making whisky here in Denmark. Everything from small micro-distilleries producing a handful of bottles a year to larger distilleries producing big volumes and holding large warehouses of maturing whisky. The distilleries are spread across the country, found in cities where they are easy to reach as well as in rural Denmark where the grain is grown. 

That has also been clear to see at Whiskymessen, held annually in Kolding. Over the past few years the number of Danish stands at the fair has risen markedly, and now an entire hall fills with Danish distilleries eager to talk about their products and what they stand for. Each has its own distinctive way of making whisky, and that comes through in the aroma and the flavour.

Several of the Danish distilleries that have grown a little larger, plus some of the very small ones, let you buy into a whole cask or a share of one. That way you can get hold of whisky that otherwise never reaches the market, and end up with a one-off from a specific cask that you can help shape in terms of maturation time and cask choice. It is also a tradition at the whisky fair that several distilleries release a whisky made specifically for it, which goes on sale at the fair first and may well sell out there, because the bottlings are limited editions with very few bottles. This time I am tasting three such releases, none of which went on sale directly through the distillery, two of them released for the 2026 whisky fair and the last released specifically for Danish retailers in 2026. Listen to our podcast about Thornæs Distillery: