Even better than the real thing, part V: German engineering applied to whisky

Non -scotch distilleries that should be on your radar...

Whisky, these days, is everywhere. It has since long past the borders and boundaries of traditional producers like Scotland, Ireland, North America and Japan, to newly established producers like India, Taiwan, Australia, Sweden and England and beyond, to new and upcoming whisky regions pretty much everywhere else. From tiny islands off the coast of Norway to Patagonia in Argentina, to Namibia, China or Romania … whisky has become global. As I hope to have showcased in this little series: it’s well worth it to be paying attention to what’s happening outside what’s deemed traditional and to occasionally step away from the usual suspects. However, there is one country where whisky is absolutely booming, with literally hundreds of distilleries coming into fruition in recent years, and yet, outside their own borders, it seems, there’s little fuss being made about the whole thing.

Quite a lot of this lack of (international) attention comes down to lack of availability, obviously, but even those able to produce enough to export their whisky to foreign markets, don’t seem to always be able to grab people’s attention. And that’s a pity, because there’s some absolute gems to be found. I am talking, of course, about German whisky. The count on whiskybase goes well past the 200 distillery mark and presumably there are many more, and while many of these will (still) be at a craft production level, there’s no denying the fact that the Germans are rapidly developing a sweet tooth for whisky. And seeing how they too can look back on a long tradition of distilling, be it ‘obst’ (fruit schnaps), Aquavit , brandy or jenever, it makes sense that at some point whisky would become the focus of attention. That time has now definitely come.

One of the rising stars in the German whisky landscape, is Elsburn whisky from the Hercynian Distilling Company. Although ‘rising’ needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, as they have been producing whisky as far back as 2002. Originally they named their whisky ‘Glen Els’, but as that nearly gave the SWA a heart attack, followed by a quite clear and determined phone call from their legal department, their whisky changed name and is since 2019 known as Elsburn. Apart from this expression, they also produce different whiskies under various names (The Alrik, a peated expression named Emperor’s way, and a spice driven expression called Willowburn). The Hercynian distilling co. takes its name from the ‘Harz’ region, bang in the centre of Germany (the distillery itself located roughly in the middle of the triangle Hannover-Berlin-Lepizig-Kassel). The soil there is quite suited to grow various crops, barley being the premium grain, but wheat and rye are cultivated too, so that’s one box ticked already. Apart from whisky, they’ve also been producing other spirits since 1985, leaning, much like Scotland, on an age long distillery and brewing tradition which dates back to the late middle ages.

The distillery website is a very useful source of factual information, although a rough understanding of the German language is probably helpful to make sense of it all. In any case, they provide the visitor with very handy information, which will please the whisky anorak. It’s still a rarity to be provided with so much factual information, and in that regard a lot of the well-established (Scottish) distilleries should take note! It’s pretty much full disclorure: the barley varieties used by the distillery are Golden Promise and Concerto, malted on site and partly smoked over beech and alder wood, and partly peated to 25- 30 ppm from peat sourced from the Niedersachsen area (which is in the northwest of Germany in the region of Bremen and Hannover). They mash up to 10,000 litre a week, spread out over four 3000 litre washbacks, using long fermentation periods of 4- 6 days, which is then double distilled in wood fired pot stills. Depending on the expression, they use different cut points, again all of which are disclosed on their website.

As said, visiting the website is an absolute feast of ‘Deutsche Gründlichkeit’, very much inviting the visitor to get their geek on! Fancy some more? They cask their new make spirit at 60% ABV, and leave it to mature for an average of 5 to 10 years before bottling it, depending on the casks. Some are quite small (38 litres), some are more standard sized, using a plethora of different wine casks, virgin oak, rum and bourbon casks. At full capacity they would be capable of producing some 100,000 LPA, but currently it sits somewhere around 30,000 to 50,000 LPA. So immediately you’ll spot the potential issue of them producing enough to ship abroad. Most of their whiskies are indeed distributed (for the time being) on the domestic market. Hower, this being a global market after all, some of their whisky can also easily be found on secondary, such as the whiskybase marketplace. So, should you at least have a peek on what they have to offer…

Elsburn Cosy Winter VII. 2021 release. 56.2% ABV, 1st Fill Malaga, Dolce Marsala and Port Casks. 1344 bottles, NC, UCF, app. €80 (£72)

Nose

Like walking into a Middle Eastern bazaar: a barrage of sweet spices and bags and bags of fruit with thick and dense notes of apricot and raspberry jam. Notes of syrup, dates, ginger and hazelnut. Shyly shining through, there is a lighter touch to it as well, coming from a gentle herbal-grassy note, but the overall experience is that it’s rich, luscious and extravagant.

Palate

Just as the nose suggested: dense, thick and full on. Treacle, a gentle wooden bitterness, coffee, syrup, chocolate. Gentle sweetness from dried fruit like dates and prunes, then tart and a light herbaceous element shining through, a bit like eucalyptus (the port casks shining through?). on the palate it’s just as decadent and rich as on the nose, and while the ABV is noticeable, although even at cask strength it’s very drinkable.

Finish

Warming, rich on a drying sweetness.

Final thoughts

It’s lush, it’s decadent and it indeed has ‘cosy winter’ written all over it in big neon letters. While perhaps very much under the radar of many, this is ‘up there’ with some of the better traditional heavy flavour expressions the likes of A’Bunadh, Glenfarclas 105 or Cask strength Glengoyne. Overall, this is living proof that they know their casks, and that they have access to some good quality wood as well. Having said that, this is very well crafted and put together, engineered almost, yet also all about the casks. And while I absolutely enjoyed this sample (courtesy of the wonderful Holly from whisky buzz), I would love to get to know the spirit underneath a bit better too.

And that puts a wrap on this series. I do hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on some up and coming non scotch distilleries, and for now, I’ll leave you with the words of some obscure Irish bloke…

‘Give me one more chance, and you’ll be satisfied

Give me two more chances, you won’t be denied’