Det jyske guld (Visit Thy whisky and Stauning whisky)

Det jyske guld (Visit Thy whisky and Stauning whisky)

Post by Mads Thorup

Thy Whisky Distillery

Is there anything better than spending the warm Danish summer days visiting Danish distilleries? This summer, I have therefore visited two up-and-coming distilleries in Jutland - Thy Whisky and Stauning Whisky. Both are definitely worth a visit!

Thy Whisky I visited thedistillery in the early summer back in June in connection with their open house event, where they released two new whiskies, their Whisky No 18 Kornmod and their Distillery Edition cask 52+53. In addition, they celebrated the fact that they could now fill their cask no. 1000. Of course, I had to be a part of this. Thy Whisky is a "single estate" whisky distillery, which means that they have everything in the whisky process on their own land/farm - from sowing grain, harvesting and malting, so they are completely self-sufficient. Another characteristic of Thy Whisky is that it is a family-run distillery and their grain varieties are not quite like everyone else's. For several years, they have cultivated some old local grain varieties, which they have received a handful of in the grain gene bank and worked to get a volume that has been sufficient for malting and distilling. They have this to this day, and in all their fields they can locate and pinpoint which grain was used, and they are quite unique in their choice of grain over barrel.

• Thy Whisky No 18 - Kornmod is one of their standard whiskies, made from a imperial barley and aged for just 3 years. Despite the young age, there is a lot of aroma from the previously used barrels containing rye and bourbon. Flavors and aromas include vanilla, citrus, light spice and hints of fresh apples.

• Thy Whisky Distillery Edition - cask 52+53 is a limited edition cask strength bottling, with only 236 bottles released. This whisky is their oldest whisky they have released to date and is six years old. The whisky is made from an old evergreen barley and has been aged in used bourbon barrels. This sweetness from the bourbon barrel comes through in the taste and you can clearly sense that this is an older whisky that is very rounded and mild despite the high alcohol content of 60.5%.

Stauning Whisky Distillery

Stauning I visited WhiskyDistillery during a road trip down south, so I might as well stop by for a tour and tasting at this distillery in central Jutland. Stauning Whisky is becoming a household name in Denmark, and most whisky connoisseurs have probably heard of them before. Their first official bottling was launched back in 2011, when their annual production was around 2-400 liters of whisky per year, which is just a drop in the bucket compared to the now over 80,000 liters of whisky they produce annually. This capacity has increased significantly as a result of a huge investment by whisky producer Diageo, which also operates 28 of the largest whisky distilleries in Scotland. Stauning Whisky is notable for being one of the few distilleries that still floor-malt their grain 100%. This used to be done by hand and a shovel, with the grain manually turned regularly, but Stauning has built their own machine that can automatically turn the grain to spare employees the rigors of the old-fashioned method.

• Stauning Rye is one of the classic whiskies at Stauning Whisky. On the nose, there are delicious notes of spices, vanilla and fresh grain from the field. When the whisky hits the tongue, you can taste ripe fruits, vanilla and light citrus. At the end of the finish, distinct rye notes can be sensed, where there is also a spiciness and fruit notes. In many ways, this whisky is reminiscent of a really good classic rye whisky.

• Stauning Kaos is a blend of three of Stauning's products; peated, rye and single malt. This is called a "married" whisky when whisky from the same distillery is blended, and is therefore not a blended whisky, as blended is whisky that is blended from different distilleries.

This blending of their three products gives a complex flavor where notes from all three types of whisky emerge. Both the spicy that you often get in a rye whiskey, but also a mild balanced smoke flavor from their peated whiskey without it being overpowering like a good Islay whiskey can be. Overall, a nice whisky that is for those who like a little bit of smoke without it being overpowering.