Ireland and Scotland don’t count, of course.

My recent faves:

  • Kyrö from Finland: they exclusively make rye whiskies. I already bought 3 of their 4 expressions. My favorite is Wood Smoke. Powerful smoky character from alder-smoked malts, sun dried plums and lots of character.

  • Ninkasi from France: one of the oldest breweries from the Craft Beer Revival started distilling about 5 years ago with a cognac still. Lots of great finishes, my favorite is Manifesto, finished in Pineau des Charentes casks. Massive old wine and must character.

What are yours?

  • julianwgs
    2·
    17 days ago

    I did a distillery tour of Hercynian in Germany and the owner said that due to fire regulations they need to vent the barrel storage rooms to keep the alcohol concentration in the air below a threshold. This leads to more evaporation and a shorter aged whiskey tasting more like a longer aged whiskey. This regulation doesn‘t exist in Scotland or Ireland, where you can really taste the alcohol in the air. Anyway they will probably say that this venting would destroy the whiskey taste. I think Hercynian whiskey tastes exceptional.