While I couldn’t make it to Hanse Spirit on Friday this year, I made sure I could at least go there on Saturday. When it came to shooting down the drams, I deliberately took it a bit slower this time. Nevertheless, I got to discover and enjoy a lot of good whisky at the fair. I started my journey across the showfloor at the boothof Stock Spirits (formerly known as Borco Markenimport), where my pal Gearoid O’Callaghan had something really special prepared for me: a back-to-back degustation of Glengoyne White Oak NAS and Glengoyne White Oak 24 Years Old. As expected, the younger one – which sells at round about 60 bucks a bottle – was a bit more lively and straight forward, offering a beautiful array of well-developed ex-Bourbon cask notes (vanilla, coconut, peach, apple, spice). The older one – setting you back over 400 quid – also had a bright and clear profile, but offered increased levels of complexity, depth, and sophistication. Both releases were great in their own right. And comparing them directly with each other added even further to their appeal!
At the stand of the relatively new indie bottler Dram Way, which released its first whisky in 2022, I met more dramming buddies of mine: Malte (who founded Dram Way), and Björn and Flo (who helped him work the booth at the fair). Together with them, I checked out several expressions from the diverse line-up on the table. First, I had a Moscatel and Malaga cask finished Glen Ord 12yo called “Cinnamon Apple Pie”. Then, I sipped a Ruby Port finished Linkwood 19yo monickered “A link from the past”. Finally, I drank an ex-Bourbon cask matured South Islay 6yo named “Quintessential Islay”. All three were of consistantly high quality, leaving me really impressed and satisfied. And at least in one case, I will also not have a problem quenching my thirst for more – cause I liked the Linkwood so much that I bought a full bottle of it!
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- Happy drammers, pt. 1
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- Linkwood 18yo by Dram Way
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- Happy drammers, pt. 2
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- At the Stock Spirits booth
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- Glengoyne White Oak
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- At the Flickenschild booth
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- Happy drammers, pt. 3
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- Fair impressions, pt. 1
No spirits fair without Danish whisky! For me, this has been a clear prerequisite for quite a few years now. At Hanse Spirit 2025, I visited the stands of two different distilleries from Danmark, namely Sall Whisky and Stauning. It was great meeting both Sall’s co-founders Thomas and Snaevar as well as Stauning’s brand ambassador Henning again over some very delicate drams – and chatting with more cool folks there, too. If there’s two things that you will definitely find aplenty at the trade show presences of these two Nordics-based production sites, it’s super-good whisky and super-nice people!
After popping in on Sall and Stauning, my next stop was Flickenschild. Besides a wealth of other bottles, they also had the latest outturn from Best Dram available, which contained – among others – an incredible Williamson 10 Years Old (i.e., a tea-spooned Laphroaig) matured in a sherry cask. As soon as I had seen this one, my choice was clear. And I’m damn happy I went for it. Mixing lots of medical smoke and phenols with dried fruits and half-sweet treats, this full-of-character peat monster ticked all the right boxes for me as both an Islay fan in general and a ‘Phroaig die-hard in particular!
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- At the Dram Way booth
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- Stork Club Peanutz
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- At the Stauning booth
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- Tomatin 17yo PX
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- At the M&D Distillery booth
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- Williamson 10yo by Best Dram
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- At the Sall Whisky booth
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- Fair impressions, pt. 2
The craziest drink I tried at Hanse Spirit ’25 was the new Peanutz by Stork Club, a rye whisky infused with peanut butter. I sipped it from my wife Dini’s glass, who liked it so much that she wanted to take a full bottle home; but it was already sold out by the time we went to the stand again to buy it – a pity, cause the drink was indeed very savory. Speaking of savory: I also found this quality to be very present in the last dram I’d like to tell you about, namely a PX cask-finished Tomatin 17 Years Old that I had at the booth of Kammer-Kirsch. It was rich with chocolate, toffee, walnut, and dried fruits. A grand pour, no doubt!
Aaaand that’s it! As in the previous years, my visit to Hanse Spirit 2025 was lots n’ lots of fun. The people were nice, the drams were good, and the organization was smooth. Thanks once more to Chris Rickert and the team for putting together such a highly recommendable dramming event right there before my doorstep in my home town of Hamburg. I look forward to returning next year! Till then: Slainte mhath, everybody … and keep exploring the liquid life!
by Tobi
Hanse Spirit @ Web: https://www.hanse-spirit.de/
Hanse Spirit @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hansespirit
*** I attended the fair as a regular, paying customer. However,
I was invited to free drams at some of the booths. ***
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