Juuri Kyro Rye Single Malt Spirit 50 cl 46.3%

Juuri means both 'origin' and the basis for baking great rye bread. It is made from 100% pure Finnish malted rye - and is the raw, unaged rye spirit that forms the basis of the Nordic region's first Single Malt Rye Whisky. Their first rye whisky will be released in 2017 and will be the first Nordic Single Malt Rye Whisky. Until then, we can enjoy their Juuri 'New Make' malted rye!

Tasting notes: Fresh sweetness and slightly spicy rye can be sensed on the nose, but dominates on the tongue. After an initial dryness, notes of licorice root and star anise follow, which in turn are replaced by the taste of lightly spiced, traditional Finnish rye bread.

Five naked fins conceive the world's best gin Five naked men sit in a Finnish sauna. The year is 2012. They're drinking a foreign rye whiskey and talking about why they don't brew spirits from rye in Finland; rye is all the rage in those latitudes. As they say, so they do. A few months later, the naked, sweaty men have founded the Kyrö Distillery Company. The distillery is located by the river Kyröi Isokyrö, a small hamlet of 5000 inhabitants in the municipality of Ostrobothnia in western Finland. A peculiar place by the way; archaeologists have found skeletons in the local Leväluhta well; every spring the water turns red! In the scenic surroundings, the happy founders found the perfect home for their rye-inspired dreams: a gorgeous old cheese factory that used to produce Oltermanni-the famous Finnish cheese typically enjoyed on a slice of good rye bread. Today, the buildings have a new connection to Finland's most beloved grain - as the world's only distillery that works exclusively with rye. The small distillery first started making spirits in 2014, and from the start, the company is run on pure Finnish sisu, wild ambition and an all original approach to its products. And then the miracle happens... In February 2015, KyröDistillery'sNapueGini enters the prestigious International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC), where it participates in a blind tasting with 150 other distilleries. And wins! The brand new NapueGin simply takes the award for "Best Gin for Gin & Tonic". And to make matters worse, KyröDistillery's barrel-aged gin, KoskueGin, wins gold in the same competition. That's the equivalent of two world championships in the world of wine and spirits. So now the naked Finns can walk on water; even if there is no ice on it. It will be exciting to follow KYRÖ in the future and see if the Finns can repeat the feat when their first Rye Whisky sees the light of day in 2017.