Stauning Smoke
Stauning was founded in 2005 by nine friends who wanted to make exceptinoal whisky in Denmark, specically usng local grains like rye and barley and using small copper pot stills (currently 24 of them). 100% of the grain is floor-malted at the distillery and no coloring or chill filtering is used. While the distillery has two decades of experience now, and a variety of core offerings to showcase, their global footprint has only expanded in recent years through additional funding from spirits conglomerate Diageo. Their only single malt is the Stauning Smoke, sourced from two Danish farms and lightly peated. The barley is kiln dried using local peat and heather and is meant to evoke a West Coast Danish terroir; matured in first-fill bourbon barrels, first-fill fortified wine and spirits casks, and heavy charred new American white oak barrels.
Bunnahabhain Toiteach a Dhà
There is remote and then there is Bunnahabhain remote. Located on the island of Islay off the coast of Scotland, the distillery was only accessible by boat until the 1960s, when a single-track road was finally installed. The distillery is also known for having the tallest stills on Islay and producing one of the few non-peated whiskies there, a place renowned for its use of peated malts. However, distillers love experimentation and Bunnahabhain eventually tried using smoked barley with the debut of the Toiteach in 2008. The Toiteach a Dhà, Gaelic for “The Smokey Two”, is part of the distillery’s core range and serves as a sequel of sorts to the first. It is made up of around 75% ex-Oloroso sherry and 25% ex-bourbon casks, which is a higher proportion of sherry influence that found in other core offerings.
Cowboy Country Maple Whiskey
Cowboy Country Distilling was founded in 2015 and opened on Valentine’s Day 2018. Offering a wide variety of whiskies, vodkas, rums, liqueurs, and gins, drawn from the water, grains and weather of Wyoming by founder and master distiller Tim Trites. The Cowboy Country Maple Whiskey uses the same recipe as their Straight Whiskey, which is a twice-distilled bourbon with vanilla and baking spices added. This is then left to mature for a couple of years in oak barrels that once contained maple syrup. As might be expected, a visit to the distillery will also provide you with the opportunity to purchase maple syrup aged in oak barrels that once held Straight Whiskey. A virtuous circle if there ever was one.