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DISTILLERY VISIT: Stauning Denmark

The first time I visited the Ringkøbing Fjord in Denmark was in 2005 and my love affair with whisky was just starting. It is a very beautiful part of the world and it well worth visiting. I returned in 2018 and this time set my sights on visiting the small town of Stauning to see the already famous Danish distillery with the same name. It was a very good time to drop by as they had just received a large investment and had started building a very modern, yet very traditional distillery next to the old one. A very Scandinavian way to do things.


In July I got to visit them again and was delighted to spend some time with Alex and Stefan. Gone is the old distillery, it has become a welcome centre and tasting room. Some might say a pity. I don’t. The new distillery is impressive, very impressive - well thought out, architectural and pays homage to its roots and the local area. It’s huge compared to the old one but fits in perfectly with the surrounding villages and cuts a fantastic silhouette, breaking the space between the earth and the sky. Each building represents a step along the way towards the finished product. To the keen eye the whole distilling process is visible from the outside. Intake, malting, mashing, boiling, distilling, maturation and finished product.

Some facts & figures:
Stauning have chosen to do all parts of the production themselves so it only makes sense to make this visible too. Malting takes place in the form of floor malting using grain they’ve been able to source locally. They’ve developed a one of a kind system for this. At the moment they use mainly barley and rye. On a side note rye is without a doubt my favourite grain for distilling, I love the flavour profile it generates., probably going to pour myself a glass soon…. After that the malt is dried in a kiln using hot air blown from below. For it to be a smoky whisky, the grain is dried with warm, smoky air from the burning of peat supplied by a Klosterlund Museum and heather which is also sourced locally.

2009-2012 the distillery produced 6000 litres of new spirit a year.
2012 the production was more than doubled to 15.000 litres a year.
2015 the distillery announced their plans for an expansion of the distillery capacity to 900.000 litres.


They have have 24 handmade copper pot stills (16 wash and 8 spirit) and they are all gas fired! For the nerds here you’ll know that this isn’t so common any more and there aren’t that many companies around who’ll produce these for you. In fact Alex told me that the company who built them (Abercrombie) had to ask some ex-employees to come out of retirement to help them with the design. The knowledge had been lost over the year and at the end of the day, still building isn’t a trade but a mix of craft and artistry.


Stefan showed me round the barrel houses and let me in on the best kept secret in the whisky world. Watch the video linked to this article to see what I’m talking about. This guy is the definition of learning by doing. His methods work like this: “I’ve got an idea. I think it’ll work. Yes it did!” or “I’ve got an idea. I think it’ll work. No it didn’t but if I do this, and then do this and then try this I can save the soup.” Mostly turns out better than the original idea. He is the keeper of exceptional cask experiments. I see a lot of similarities between him and a chef. Very little science, definitely a method, a good gut feeling and some fantastic “ingredients” to work with. His commitment doesn’t hurt either. Keep your eyes peeled there’s some great stuff coming soon.


Alex, one of the founders, walked me through the distillery and as always I felt like a guest being welcomed to his home. He’s proud of his distillery and everything they’ve achieved. He should be too, they’ve gone from farmhouse to world level in a very short time with zero loss of quality. The opposite is true in fact, everything I tasted was better. The site is fantastic, and the whisky they produce is too. I enjoy going there so much because I feel like we’re on the same wavelength: there’s loads we’d like to see change in the whisky world to avoid the most fantastic drink becoming redundant. Whisky can’t stay the same as it’s always been, it needs to evolve to please true fans and bring new blood to the table. Stauning takes traditional methods, packs them up in a modern way and allows this very old spirit be just as relevant now as it was 500 years ago. The best of the old, the best of the new ,all wrapped up in some contemporary design. Very Scandinavian.

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DISTILLERY VISIT: New Midleton Distillery

Recently I got the chance, on a fairly cold day, to visit the New Midleton Distillery in Midleton, Co Cork, Ireland. This is a very big facility and happens to be home to a few of the cornerstones of Irish Whiskey: Jameson, Powers, Paddy, Redbreast, Midleton Very Rare, Green Spot & Yellow Spot and of course a lot of contract distilling including names like Tullamore Dew and many more.
Now when you visit there are a few different kinds of tour you can take part in. All well and good, in fact a few years ago I did the historical tour which if you’re a random tourist who’s semi-interested in whiskey there are worse ways to spend your afternoon.
If however you love whiskey and already have a bit of experience as to how whiskey is made then you should go with the “Behind the Scenes Tour” or the “Distiller’s Apprentice Tour” these are the ones that take you behind the scenes and into the main production and storage warehouses.
I was invited there by Jameson and we were taken around by John Madden who honestly was a fantastic guide with a very in-depth knowledge of how the place runs and who’s who in the Irish whiskey world. We started off having a look at the historical distillery which like I say is interesting but more in a tourist attraction kind of way. Then we were quickly at the Method and Madness craft distillery where all of the new experimental liquid is coming from. If you look closely you’ll also see the original gin still from when the original distillery first opened.
Then we went on to the main part of the show: the first stop was the Irish Whiskey Academy. We got a much more in-depth look at modern whiskey production and got to try different kinds of new make, from different grains and of course in different strengths. All very polished and very interesting.
After around 30 minutes and a quick tasting of the Black Barrel and Green Spot we headed on to the main distillery. Wow this is a one off in Ireland just because of shear scale and technical prowess. Sadly no pictures of the still room but you’ll know that from visiting other distilleries, they’re never too hot on having the heart of the production photographed. At the moment they’re very close to full production and are making a staggering 150,000 standard barrels per annum! …. and this brings us onto the next part of the tour. The barrel warehouses. 42 of them in total and full to the brim with beautiful whiskey. I’ve added a few photos and a video but honestly, seeing it live gives you the real idea of the scale. The thing that hit me wasn’t just the scale but the distance. We drove past warehouse after warehouse after warehouse and were told about the expansion plans for the coming years, all that whiskey that’s being produced day and night has to be matured somewhere. I did mention that I have a bit of space going in my basement in case they get stuck, let’s see…
The highlight came next though: a grand bit of cask opening. I was treated to a fully matured 16 year old ex-bourbon single pot still which was great but then the trump card was packed out: a 21 year old ex-port pipe. I could try describing it but any tasting notes I’d write wouldn’t do it justice because with all whiskey the atmosphere plays a huge role and with that our tour slowly came to an end.
Thanks again to my guide John Madden, Adam at the distillery and my Pernod Ricard representative in Hamburg, Raffael Koch.

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DISTILLERY VISIT: Waterford Distillery

I've just come back from Ireland and we had amazing weather... for a change. We also got to visit a very special distillery: Waterford Distillery. This is high-tech, state of the art stuff with two beautiful stills from Islay at the heart of it. Very impressive. Haven't heard of it yet? I bet you've heard of Mark Reynier the former head of Bruichladdich though. You mightn't know them as they haven't released any whiskey to date but flippin hell have they been busy and trust me you will know them very soon. First off, the guys we met there were brilliant, so a big cheers to Eamonn and Padraig for taking such care and time out of their day for us. I don't really know how to start explaining what this distillery is up to because they are doing so much and are more or less resetting the Irish Whisky industry or maybe even bringing it back to its roots. We've all heard of the Irish Whiskey Renaissance but I think this might be the start of the Irish Whiskey Revolution (I know, it's a pity they're not from Cork, but nobody's perfect). Another thing you might not know are the names of Irish barley farmers but you will in a few years, believe me. While we were there we got to try 3 kinds of new make from three different farms and I can safely say it's the first time I've seen an example of terroir or micro climate in Irish whiskey. One of them was being distilled while we were there. All three tasted completely different. Completely different. They ranged from super farmyard tasting to almost being a whisky as we know it but without any maturation. There has been talk going around recently about introducing a new kind of un-aged whiskey category for Ireland, one where there is no minimum time in the barrel. When I first heard it I was sceptical. Then I tried the new make in Waterford: It's already good, very good in fact - imagine what a little time in a decent barrel would do? I tried something there that even 12 months in a good barrel would transform into something fabulous! Imagine if it were possible to already buy this, rather than waiting the arbitrary 3 years? Well that's just my 2 cents and I'm definitely not saying that Waterford are the ones trying to introduce this system, I'm just super excited to try the final product. If even 1 % of the attention to detail I saw makes it to the first bottling we're all in for a good show. One thing I can tell you is this: These guys know what they're doing, so form an orderly line and get ready for something special.

Gearóid

PS I'll be one of the first in that line by the way.

PPS: It's founded on the site of a historic brewery so we got to see that too! My dad came along too, I'm sure you can guess from the photos who he is.

 

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