Whiskyschiff Luzern 2025

Whiskyschiff Luzern 2025, 27-29 March, Luzern, Switzerland

The Whisky Schiff Luzern, 27-29 March 2025

The ships at the pier

This year, I decided to join the event on its first day, although it had the shorter opening times (from 17.00 until 22.30), to ensure that all bottles would be available.

Some sought after Springbank at Lateltin

I was rather busy lately, so although I did not followed up lately with all the new releases, at the opening, I went straight to Lateltin to see the new releases. Fortunately, I was amongst the first 6 to be at the stand and managed to get a bottle of the Springbank 8 YO Local Barley, bottled in December 2024. A bottle was open, thus I could taste this nice whisky, heavier and more oily than the core range, with light maritime, smoky and peated flavours, as well as rather spicy-gingery malty flavours. The Longrow 18 YO 2024 had a lovely combination of leather, dried peat, dried fruits, and rather meaty flavours. An expression with a high sherry content and is well-made.

The forthcoming Strathearn release

I moved then to the stand of Haecky to taste the newly released Strathearn batch 2, a rather gentle, soft, malty, and nutty whisky with some nuts, oak spices, and cereals. This new batch is a triple cask-aged whisky (virgin oak, bourbon, and sherry). The Douglas Laing Midnight series are whiskies bottled at Cask Strength. The Aultmore 2010 was nicely floral, round, rather intense, spicy, on red fruits, oak spices, with some toffee and fudge. A very nice expression. As part of their XOP range, they produced a Swiss trilogy, a series of 3 grain whiskies bottled for Switzerland. The 1978 Cameronbridge was excellent, rich, mellow, with lots of exotic fruits, rather intense and powerful. An example of high quality grain whisky.

Most of the Orma releases

I moved then to the Swiss distillery Orma, where I could taste all their new products, starting with their Anniversary edition, a whisky matured initially in ex-Lagavulin casks followed by a final maturation in a chestnut cask. The whisky is slightly peated on the nose, with nice light sweet nutty flavours. On the palate, it is initially salty, dry and peaty, before the sweet flavours of cooked chestnuts and round malty flavours are released. The flavour profile is indeed rather atypical, but the product is well balanced and elegant. I enjoyed tasting it. Talking with the staff, I tasted then the Peated, an elegant peated whisky, with a nice elegance and smoothness, without the dry side of many Scottish peated whisky. It is also rather crispy, probably due to the fact they use the whole grain for its production, so that the peat from the husk is kept and probably gives its distinct peatiness. The Tarasp is a new release, with a traditional maturation in ex-pinot casks for this distillery, followed by a maturation in ex-Calvados casks. My previous experiences with ex-Calvados casks were not the most pleasant ones. I was pleasantly pleased with this one, as the whisky was not dominated by fresh apple flavours, instead, it had a nice sweet influence on dried apples, that worked well with the grapes flavours from the ex-pinot casks and the high quality distillate. The Vadret is another new expression, with water taken straight from the Glacier where the distillery is located and matured there. This gives a rather cloudy (haze) aspect to the whisky, with a rather mineral influence on limestone and a nice mineral freshness. The range from Orma is diverse in terms of profiles and flavours, with a common elegance and quality, with a very good control of the cask maturation.

The Glenfarclas, including the new Swiss edition

From Glenfarclas, there was a new Swiss edition Glen & Peak, which is a 10 YO bottled almost at Cask Strength. The whisky is punchy, intense, spicy, floral, with nice floral flavours. A few drops of water soften slightly the whisky. A 10 YO Glenfarclas with a boosted intensity.

Some of the rarities at Catawiki

At the Auctioneer Catawiki, I tasted an old 1979 14 YO Springbank, rather mineral, moderately smoky and peaty, with some coconut, mineral oil and a touch of leather. The Springbank 199 Archives from Whiskybase was less peated and mineral, but rather fruity, salty, on dried fruits, some leather and orange. A different style, but very good. Before leaving, I was kindly offered by Enrico a very Strathisla 8 YO 100 Proof, an intense aromatic, floral and mineral whisky, complex, balanced and most enjoyable, very different from the current style. If you have not tried an old Strathisla before, don’t hesitate to taste this one.

The Balmenach Amontillado from Cadenhead at Scotch Sense

At Scotch Senses, I tasted a 12 YO Amontillado Balmenach from Cadenhead’s, with a mixture of nutty, aromatic and floral flavours, clean and round, while the 5 YO sherry Ardnamurchan from Adelphi was peaty, very meaty, on bacon, smoked meat, with a pronounced sherry influence on dried fruits, red berries and polished oak. Very good.

Some Irish Silkie whiskies at Best Taste Trading

At Best Taste, I tried the Silkie Single malt, a smoky Irish whiskey, that is being produced before the first single malt from their distillery will be released in June, the Ardara. Currently, the Silkie is made from whisky sourced from another distillery, rather smoky, malty, green and nutty. I could taste the Ardara single malt that is being bottled now. It Is produced using malted barley at 55 PPM and they are using the whole grain, as done with Orma and their peated whisky. The result is a peaty and smoky whisky, round, surprisingly smooth, without any dry or aromatic peat smoke found in peated Scotch whiskies, as well as some light nutty and barley husk flavours. A combination of bourbon, sherry and ex-bourbon finished in ex-virgin oak casks. A nice whisk(e)y, with its unique character unique amongst the Irish whiskies.

The new Sansibar expressions at Acla Da Fans

I moved then to Acla Selection and tasted their new Sansibar whiskies, starting with a mellow 50 YO single grain, on mild cereal flavours, with some juicy oak, toffee and shoe polish, with a rather short finish. The 48 YO Antique blended whisky was mellow, rounder and more intense than the 50 YO, with a mixture of malty and spicy flavours, cereals, some floral flavours, fudge and dried fruits. The Bruichladdich 33 YO was another mellow whisky, light, slightly thin, with light mineral flavours, some sea brine, flinstone, quince, slightly mineral and smoky flavours. The Holyrood 3 YO from Duncan Taylor for Kirsh import was a very different whisky, intense, complex, rich, spicy, malty, slightly yeasty and musky. Very good! From the official Bowmore range, I tasted last year at the Whisky Live Paris the sherry cask series, which was rather disappointing. So I was curious to taste the new travel retail range. The 14 YO Bordeaux was a nice and enjoyable whisky, with sweet winey flavours, some spices, sea salt, peat smoke, a nice round and sweet mouthfeel and a medium finish. I was less impressed by the 16 YO Ruby, with a rather dry mouthfeel, sea salt, some strawberries, redcurrant and winey flavours. The 19 YO Pinot Noir finish was closer to the 14 YO, but spicier, more complex and slightly more aggressive. I could also taste a potential future expression for Acla Selection, a 2010 Inchgower, with a full maturation in a Port Cask. The whisky was excellent, very round and smooth, slightly malty and salty, with some sea salt, red berries, harmonious round moderate red Port flavours. Very well-made and without any offnotes. Let’s hope that they will bottle it! The Ben Nevis 1996 Sherry sample was a rather difficult one. My final dram there was a Bushmills 15 YO Single Malt, rather juicy, intense, smooth, with light floral, honey and vanilla flavours as well as some spices.

Whisky Bibliothek is now the importer for Decadent Drinks, unfortunately, the bottles were to be delivered for this Friday. The new release since their last show is the Filey Bay ex-orange wine cask. These wine casks are oak casks filled with a bitter orange liqueur produced in Andalusia (Spain). The result is a fresh and zesty whisky, almost fizzy, with slightly bitter orange, reminding me of the Orangina soft drink. An atypical whisky, that would work nicely during summer or as an apero.

The new fruity Linkwood for World of Whisky by Waldhaus am See

At Waldhaus am See / World of Whisky (WoW), they had several new bottlings for them, including a new Linkwood 12 YO, a very fruity, intense and juicy single malt, slightly floral and with nice exotic fruits flavours. The Glenallachie 18 WoW from Signatory was a very good spicy and moderately floral whisky, on dark chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, various floral flavours, as well as fudge and leather. Very good. The Mortlach 17 Yo Sygminton’s choice was a round, meaty, whisky, on dark chocolate, spices, some oak spices, leather, dried fruits and some dried meat. Good, but I enjoyed better the Teaninch 17 YO PX Finish Sygminton’s choice, which was more balanced, smoother, on milk chocolate, sultanas, soft leather and round malty flavours. Not surprisingly, this whisky had a lot of success.

At another stand (Topweinshop.ch), I tasted my first Stillhead whiskies, a Canadian whisky distilled on Vancouver Island made with 100 % Canadian Rye. I tasted The Stillhead Switzerland Edition, matured in ex-bourbon casks. The whisky was rather young, clean, rather smooth, on soft spices, treacle, and some cinnamon, with just a touch of white pepper. Discussing with the master distillery, I was explained that they are using lightly toasted barrels to create a whiskey different from the American Rye whiskies. Also, they are using an Holstein still, which creates a rather smooth and clean distillate. The next one was the Garry Oak. The Garry oak (or Garryana) is an oak growing in the West Coast of North America, between the state of Washington and the province of British Columbia, which has a slow growth and protected. Thus, casks can only be made when a tree is falling naturally. The Stillhead Garry was more resinous, slightly more mineral and earthy than the Swiss edition. In addition to whisky and gins, the stand was selling an excellent Maple Syrup from Cosman & Webb.

It was then I met Pascal, and learnt that there was deck I had no visited. I almost panicked when I saw all the nice stands upstairs with my watch indicating 22.05. With only 25 min to visit the maximum of stands, I felt rather stressed. Fortunately, it was not as busy as a few hours before.

The new Dramcatcher expressions with some of the Cask Masters whiskies

DramCatcher is now the importer for the Cask Masters, an independent bottler established last year. As part of their own label, they had 3 new bottlings, a nice intense, complex, slightly salty Isle of Jura 18 YO, oily, slightly nutty and very enjoyable to drink. The Strathclyde 28 YO from an oloroso sherry cask was rather intense, fruity, round, smooth, with nice juicy fruity flavours on sultanas, orange, soft spices and some exotic fruits. Very good. The Lost Distillery was a 34 years old Littlemill. With the exception of a bottling from the Whisky Agency last year, I haven’t seen any independent bottling from that distillery for many years. The whisky was a mixture of grassy, slightly meaty and spicy flavours, with some aromatic herbs, orange, cinnamon, leather and grape juice. From Dramcatcher, I started with a 13 YO Strathclyde, a surprisingly robust and clean whisky, smooth, on a clean sherry, mainly on leather, fudge, sultanas and candied fruits. Very well-made! The Royal Brackla 12 YO finished in a pinot blanc barrique was clean floral whisky, with round oaky flavours, vanilla, some light spices, white grapes and light spicy winey flavours. A clean whisky, with the wine influence moderate and well-integrated. The Glen Elgin 12 YO with a final maturation in an ex-Port Barrique had the spicy bite of Glen Elgin, rather intense, but with a nice roundness and some light slightly austere winey flavours. I liked it very much. My last dram there was a 13 YO Auchroisk, with a final maturation in ex-oloroso casks. The whisky was intense, oaky, with a nice sweet influence, fruity, on orange and some light fragrant and floral flavours. The labels from Cask Masters are slightly misleading, as the cask indicated on the label is the final cask used for maturation, but not necessarily if it was a full maturation or maturation in different oak casks. The whiskies tasted show a similar pattern, with a rather clean and intense, with often a finish for about 1 year in a wine cask, with a rather light influence from the final cask, so that the whisky is not dominated by the wine. The quality of the whiskies tasted was very good.

The new Ardnahoe at Whisky Neumarkt

With only 10 min left, I quickly move to Whisky Neumarkt to taste the new Ardnahoe Bolsha, which will be part of the core range. It is a similar whisky to the first core range expression, the Infinite Loch, but with a higher sherry cask content (70 vs 30%). The result is a very nice smoky, meaty and peaty whisky, on smoked bacon and a lovely influence of sweet and juicy fruity flavours, including orange. Very nice.

The new C. Dully bottlings at House of Single Malts

At House of Single Malts, they had two new expression of C.Dully selection, with a nice 18 YO Highland Park, complex, mellow, on honey, oaky spices and a touch of smoke and sea tang. Due to time pressure, the Bunnhahbhain 12 YO was only sampled. Curious to taste it, as it is a peated expression from this distillery.

The new Staoisha at Awico Trading

At Awico, I tasted their new Staoisha 10 YO under their own label is a very clean, meaty, maritime, intense, slightly salty heavily peated Bunnhahbhain, on bacon, dried peat smoke, shoe polish, sultanas, dried orange and soft spices. Very good. From the Whisky Chamber (TWC), they had two new Inchgower 2010, a PX and Oloroso cask. The 13 YO PX was a nice intense, thick expression, slightly salty, with lots of dried fruits, leather and berries. The sherry was intense and well-integrated, on the sweet side (and not the rubbery -sulphury one). Very nice. The Glen Moray 2012 and Glen Garioch 2011 were only sampled.

The new Glen Garioch at The Whisky Cask Company

At the Whisky Cask Company (TWCC), I tasted two of their new expressions, starting with a surprisingly juicy, smooth and sweet Glen Garioch 2012, and fresh green malty flavours, which is rather atypical for this distillery. A nice and good surprise. I am curious to taste It again soon. The second and final dram of the evening was a 31 YO Allt-a-bainne.

At 22.30, the closing bell rang and it was time to evacuate the ships. With only 5h30 for the wisky fair, time flew very quickly and I wished I had a couple of hours more to visit the other stands. I used to go often on Saturdays, but It was generally difficult to move, especially if you carry a back pack and the time to get a dram is also longer. So, I am not sure that If came at another day, I would have been able to taste more whiskies.

The atmosphere was very pleasant and the choice of whiskies, new, rarities, official or independent bottlings was impressive. Water was offered frequently and most of the stands had spittoons, which is also very nice. Also, I noticed several newcomers selling Canadian whiskies. As the political situation between the USA and Canada is currently very tense, the Canadian are looking for new markets and I am more than happy to discover them. In terms of pricing, you need to pay per dram, and most of the dram were in the range of 3 to 5 CHF per cl, which is rather fair. If we consider last year that sales of whiskies were rather low, retailers seemed rather happy and smiley this years, as sales started well.

On my way to the train station, I took a nice whisky sausage (Schublig) with some (very salted) fries. I missed the direct train home, so it had plenty of time in the regional train to start working on this report after a very enjoyable and rich day.

Slainte,
Patrick

Patrick, 28 March 2025.