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?

  • dalecarlianhorse@programming.dev
    4·
    15 days ago

    If I were not allowed to buy Irish or Scottish whiskey (all my go to brands are Irish/Scottish😅), then I would probably go with Swedish Mackmyra. I am not a fan of “Mack”, but otherwise I think they are all solid choises (though I have not tried any of their most expensive ones).

    • dalecarlianhorse@programming.dev
      2·
      15 days ago

      I also realized One Nine Spirits have a whiskey. I have to be honest and say I have not tried the whiskey, but everything else I have tried by them is really good, and I think they are my favourite Swedish alcohole brand!

      • WFH@lemmy.zipOPM
        1·
        14 days ago

        Oh Nice! I haven’t had a decent aquavit in ages, I might be tempted if they can be found outside Sweden Systembolaget

        What are your favorite spirits of theirs?

    • WFH@lemmy.zipOPM
      1·
      12 days ago

      Europe is not just the EU. All products from all countries are welcome (except Russia and Belarus).

  • julianwgs@discuss.tchncs.de
    2·
    16 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.

  • unsettlinglymoist@lemmy.world
    2·
    14 days ago

    I’m in the US and recently discovered that High Coast (Sweden) is available in my area. I also visited their distillery a few months ago and sampled some of their whiskies!

    High Coast Hav can be found here for $42 which is less than at Systembolaget in Sweden. It’s lightly peated and I’m working on my second bottle of it.

    High Coast 63 – I was surprised to find this here and I bought a bottle for $120. It’s heavily peated, smoky, piney and briny. I’m absolutely loving it and highly recommend it.

    I’ve also discovered you can buy Mackmyra and other High Coast whiskies elsewhere in the US, but I haven’t seen them around here and my state doesn’t allow alcohol to be shipped from other states.