An multi-award winning ‘Scandi-Dram’, all the way from Denmark that Jim Murray declared “”What on Earth is this? Whisky-lovers will kill their mothers for a bottle of this. This could possibly become some of the world’s best peated whisky.” – Behold a very differently peated Single Malt – Stauning ‘Smoke’!
A virtually unfiltered whisky matured in a mix of bourbon, Madeira, Jamaica Rum and Virgin American Oak casks for your drinking pleasure.
- World Whiskies Awards Best Danish Single Malt 2022
- San Francisco World Spirits Competition Gold 2022
- SIP Awards Platinum 2023
Stauning Smoke is the quintessence of the distillery’s innovative New Nordic-whisky philosophy: A mildly smoked single malt whisky made from pure local ingredients, malted on open floors, smoked over locally harvested peat and heather found in the landscape surrounding Stauning, double-distilled in small flame-heated pot stills and finally aged on 1st Fill wine and spirits casks.
The result is an elegant and refined whisky with a gentle smoky taste and a complex character that oozes of the dunes, the heath and the wind by the North Sea. A thoroughbred terroir whisky that gently will blow you away.
This is ‘All Danish Whisky’. In fact, all the ingredients in Stauning’s rage (they also make Rye whisky as well) are sourced from within 25km of the distillery. The barley is grown locally to Stauning and the water is filtered over centuries through rock and sand then collected from the local spring.
But don’t let all this ‘old school’ fool you into thinking they somehow completely ‘set in their ways’. On the contrary – Stauning LOVE experimenting. For example, in the ‘Smoke’ expression, they use a mix of local peat and heather, in their malting process. The result is a much lighter, sweeter peat than one would normally associate with the term.
The Stauning Smoke is a blend of 5 and 6 year old whisky matured in a mix of 1st Fill bourbon casks, 1st Fill Madeira casks, 1st Fill Jamaica Rum casks and Virgin American Oak casks. Interestingly it is not only not chill-filtered, it is hardly filtered at all – it’s only run though a fine mesh – so you may find a little cask residue in your bottle!
NOW, waaaaay back in 2005, two Aussie guys were sitting on a veranda in Brisbane and thought ‘Hey, let’s make a whisky club’. What we didn’t know then, was that on the other side of the planet, in a remote village on the West Coast of Denmark, at pretty much the same time, nine Danish friends (a doctor, a chef, a butcher, a teacher, a helicopter pilot and four engineers), two small pot stills and an old butchery were doing much the same thing only they had much bigger plans! – and so, in the same year, the SMWC and Stauning Whisky were formed. Opposite sides of the planet, completely unbeknown to each other. And finally – in 2024 – nearly 20 years later, the two have finally come together! We are proud to present the Stauning ‘Smoke’ as our Malt of the Month for May.
Like us, when Stauning began the owners didn’t really know what they were doing – learning and feeling their way into the industry from the very beginning. They had to make use of everything local – and taught themselves not only distilling – but the preceding steps as well. Malting the [locally sourced] barley… with and without peat (done at first on the old butcher’s shop cold room floor). Milling was initially done in the old butcher’s hand-cranked meat-mincer! Did I mention these guys were using what they had on hand?
Well, carry on a couple of years and the Stauning boys have nailed it! Self taught and using what they could scrounge or make work, they had started making whisky that caught the attention and earned the praise of no less than Jim Murray (who went on from this experience to mentor and champion Stauning). On first tasting their new make (strait out of the still) Jim proclaimed no less than:
“What on Earth is this? Whisky-lovers will kill their mothers for a bottle of this. This could possibly become some of the world’s best peated whisky.”
Heady praise indeed, for a young distillery. Especially one that was still essentially a ‘hobby’ project.
And so the Stauning boys got some finance together and (despite being advised by the bank to ‘open a bakery’) bought a farm and farmhouse. And so, began the ‘Commercial phase’ of the Stauning story. In 2011, they released their first commercial whisky.
A growing global economy plus an ‘artisanal-foodie-revival’ of their region fuelled the growth of their business. Of course it certainly helped that their whisky was excellent and thus began being featured in restaurants and bars right across Denmark. And in 2018 they were able to open a purpose built distillery – of which this incoming batch of Stauning is the first in Australia from.
The new distillery is a mix of ‘state of the art’ and ‘traditional. Stauning have retained all the methods they taught themselves – only up-scaled them. They still floor-malt. They still use small, direct flame-fired pot stills. 24 of them, in fact, in the new distillery. 16 low wines stills and 8 spirit stills. And check out the pictures – how good do those banks of copper pots look! It’s like the distillery version of a big block v8!
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: First impression is definitely a smoky note – but a very sweet smelling one. Underneath this lies an earthy petrichor mixed with oak, and barley is definitely noticeable there in the mix!
Palate: It’s a light, and sweet smoke, sure – but it’s certainly in the drivers seat here. It’s all at once foreign, yet familiar. Lovely and oily as you’d expect from small volume pot stills. Some of the flavours here I can’t quite pick – they are indeed foreign to me (I’m more than happy to keep trying though!). However there’s also many reassuringly familiar notes there too. Vanilla, citrus, dried fruits and fruit mince are all there in the wings when you stop to notice.
Finish: Wow – the finish really turns from a ‘sweet peat’ to a much more meaty-peaty. There’s also defiantly a sea-side iodine-y note as well as distinct waves of saltiness as it fades. Long, chewy and definitely interesting!
Yum.. I really love this! It’s familiar… but different. It’s definitely NOT a peated Scotch whisky – but then I’m damned if don’t get a sense of Coal Ila sometimes whilst drinking the Stauning (is it the salty waves?). Easy-drinking, but complex enough that I’m still trying to pick a couple of notes I can almost recognise… ‘what IS that?’. It’s not a peat that will beat you up – but then it’s not one you can ignore, either. It’s definitely peated, make no mistake, but it’s sweet and aromatic as well as meaty and a bit iodiney in the finish.
Welcome to a ‘whiskey’ from the first distillery in the otherwise ‘wine-famous’ Hunter Valley!
FROM STAUNING
Stauning Smoke is the quintessence of the distillery’s innovative New Nordic-whisky philosophy: A mildly smoked single malt whisky made from pure local ingredients, malted on open floors, smoked over locally harvested peat and heather found in the landscape surrounding Stauning, double-distilled in small flame-heated pot stills and finally aged on 1st Fill wine and spirits casks.
The result is an elegant and refined whisky with a gentle smoky taste and a complex character that oozes of the dunes, the heath and the wind by the North Sea. A thoroughbred terroir whisky that gently will blow you away.
ABOUT STAUNING
2005 – A remote village on the West Coast of Denmark, nine friends (a doctor, a chef, a butcher, a teacher, a helicopter pilot and four engineers), two small pot stills and an old butchery. The founders of Stauning Whisky didn’t have much when they started out in 2005. Least of all, any knowledge of whisky-making, but they shared passion, curiosity and the will to experiment and create. However, they had the land around them: The wind, the sea, the fields, the heather and the peat. And some of Denmark’s finest water. What could possibly go wrong?
Having next to nothing, the nine friends had to find their own ways to achieve their vision: A 100% Danish whisky, one which reflected the place and could stand comparison to the finest from around the world.
And so they did. The barley, they got from a local farmer. Malting was done on the tiled floor of the butcher’s cold room. In a nearby museum, they found the peat to dry and smoke the malted barley. Milling could be done in an old meat mincer.
And then finally, one late August night in 2006, the first drops of the second distillation – the hearts – came through. “We felt like pioneers setting out for a new world,” Alex, one of the founders tells.
In 2011, the first commercial bottles were released. Was they any good? The critics thought so, but the founders were modest. “We are from the Danish West Coast,” says Hans Martin. “Here, you have to wait before you can raise your arms to celebrate.
The timing was perfect.
The New Nordic food scene was booming. Soon, the best bars and finest restaurants started serving the whisky from the West Coast of Denmark. René Redzepi of the world-famous Noma Restaurant delisted every other whisky for Stauning. At the same time, the prodigious whisky began winning awards all over the world.
In 2018, Stauning opened a modern & purpose-built distillery
The distillery is at the forefront of a revival of the region. “The most stupid thing you could do around here until recently was build a house,” says Martin. “Now people are moving here, schools are opening, tourism is booming, and new restaurants are celebrating local ingredients.”
Even though capacity now has risen ten-fold, it’s still a small distillery. And inside, the Stauningers are still making whisky their own way with small pot stills, open floor malting and direct fire heating. Not because they are stubborn, but because they insist on doing things their own way: The Stauning way.
