Whisky Magazine – August 2019

Issue 161 | Whisky Magazine 23

Whisky Issues European Distilling

coke. In recent years its popularity has

declined. Spain has two distilleries that

make whisky.

The largest one is Destilerías y Crianza

(DYC), founded in 1963. Number two is

Embrujo, a bit older, but much smaller.

These whiskies are seldom seen

outside the Iberian peninsula.

Sweden

The Swedes are considered “mature

consumers” by the international whisky

industry. A new variety of whisky is

regularly first launched in Sweden

before being presented elsewhere.

This happened for example with the

Black Grouse, the peaty brother of The

Famous Grouse, some years ago. In

the meantime the Swedes have been

distilling their own whisky. Mackmyra

started in 1999 in Gävle and can now

be found in many West-European

countries. Others followed, such as

Box from Bjärtrå (now called High

Coast), Smögen from Hunnebostrand

and Spirit of Hven on the tiny island of

Ven off Sweden’s south coast. Newer

ones are Bergslagens, Gammelstilla and

Vattudalen to name a few.

Switzerland

In 1999 the Swiss government passed

a law that made it possible to distil

whisky. Before that year this practice

was prohibited. Locher in Appenzell

has been promoting its Säntis malt

fairly successfully for several years.

Two other players are Langatun

in Langental and Whisky Castle in

Elfingen, both founded in 2002.

For the rest it is the same as in

Germany and Austria: lots of small

liqueur distillers making a tiny bit of

whisky on the side.

Turkey

Tekel, Turkish for monopoly, is this

country’s only distillery and fully

under the control of the government.

The eponymous whisky is not sold

outside Turkey.

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