German whisky

German distilleries

Liebl, an award-winning distillery from the Bavarian Forest, earned Silver and three times Gold at Destillata 2011 for its Coillmór Bavarian Single Malt Whisky. The Gold awards were for Port Single-cask 46%, American Oak 43%, and French Oak & Sherry Single-Cask 46%; the Silver was for Sherry Single-Cask 46%. The mash for another whisky is produced at the Rothaus State Brewery of Baden, founded on the site of a Benedictine monastery in 1791, and then transferred to Karlsruhe for distillation at Kammer-Kirsch GmbH. This distillery was founded in 1909 as the test distillery for the state of Baden, initially to produce high-quality Kirschwasser.

The whisky is distilled twice and stored mainly in bourbon casks, with some finishing for special bottlings; main batches are released yearly on 16 March, the birthday of Rothaus master brewer Max Sachs. Kammer-Kirsch received the award "Germany's Best Whisky Distillery 2011" and "Germany's Best Whisky Distillery 2012", and a silver medal at the IWSC 2013 for the product. The Blackwood distillery Seeger in Calw-Holzbronn has produced whisky using wheat since the 1980s, with a 12-year-old filling planned.

Blaue Maus

In 1980 Robert Fleischmann founded the Blaue Maus Distillery to produce brandy wine on the site of a family-owned grocery and tobacco shop; he made his first attempt at whisky, a pure single malt, three years later, and sold his first whisky in 1996. His son Thomas and wife Petra took over operations four years later, and the distillery now offers five brands of whisky. The finch® Whiskydistillery, founded in 1999 on the Swabian Alb at over 700 m above sea level, is one of the largest pot still distilleries in Germany, with nearly 6,000 barrels in warehouses. Most of its 14 whiskies, branded finch® Schwäbischer Hochland Whisky, are 8 to 12 years old, giving it the largest stock of long-matured whiskies in Germany; three of its whiskies won gold medals and the title category winner at the World Whiskies Awards 2024.