"Why is the sky blue?" 

Is a common question Danes seem to reply in response to their children's early observations of what is of course of common knowledge to adults. It seems fairly innocuous and yet is often touted to create big ripples in terms of spurring a child's creativity - getting them to ask "why" instead of encouraging them to simply accept common wisdom. That their kids question the world around them as opposed to take it as is - and maybe that's why we have some pretty experimental whiskies coming out of Copenhagen these days. After all, as Copenhagen Distillery's Master Distiller Lasse Öznek says "We do Danish whisky in Denmark... Why should I copy Scottish whiskies?".

Denmark is home to a fairly small yet intensely experimental set of distilleries - and it doesn't stop there, the country is also where the widely acknowledged greatest restaurant noma calls home, a restaurant that is just as much known for colouring so far outside the lines that they pretty much have to create a new language for what it is that they do. And so when approaching the whiskies that come out of Denmark, it is perhaps best to suspend all disbelief. After all, who could wrap their heads around a cask conditioned with deer blood and bones - and yet those who were able to try the rather grisly whisky produced by Copenhagen Distillery at the recent Hong Kong Whisky Festival 2024 seem to rave about it to no end.

Henrik Brinks (left) and Anders Frandsen (right).

A mysterious history is afoot in Copenhagen.

The distillery was founded by Henrik Brinks and Anders Frandsen in 2014, and is today located just 10 minutes by car from the Copenhagen city center. I should point out fairly early on that I found the distillery rather intriguing - the distillery being 10 years old and yet is fairly scant on its history, with its debut single malt whisky (a 3 year old) only making an appearance in 2020. When you visit the distillery's website, it's immediately really sleek, and felt more like I was buying a new iPhone than I was learning about whiskies. The distillery seemed to spare very little desire in detailing its history, and instead very evidently prefers to go at length about its philosophy.

We are non-conformists.
We are unbound by conventions.
We are free to explore.

Our terroir.
Our culture.
Our spirit.

Uniting art, craft, and science:
Creative vision.
Contemporary craftsmanship.
Scientific innovation. 

Organic Danish barley.
Natural lactic acid bacteria.
Pure tap water.

Single distillation.
Virgin oak casks–toasted, not charred.
Microclimate maturation.
Small batches.
Big flavors.
Raw, REFINED & RARE.

Distinctively Danish

(Copenhagen Distillery's Manifesto) 

As far as philosophy goes - something that is very clearly the focus of the distillery's official presence, Copenhagen Distillery heavily emphasises its position today as being an urban craft distillery in a country that has no whisky-making legacy, and thus wants to fully embrace its ability to push the boundaries of whiskymaking through "art, craft and science", believing that "true innovation thrives at the edge of tradition", with the desire to produce "organic whisky [that] embodies Denmark's ingenuity and non-conformist spirit" - indeed, the best way to describe how Copenhagen Distillery puts forth its philosophy is a webpage tab titled "Manifesto". Again, it feels more like a tech company set out to change the world, rather than your usual boilerplate whisky modus operandi which would entail some elaboration on the craft. This of course prompted some further digging and piecing together of several loosely connected experiences folks have had with the distillery - which all paints again a rather intriguing picture.

Henrik Brinks.

So who is Copenhagen Distillery?

As far as I've gathered (something you'll probably hear me say a couple of times on this write up), Brinks appears to be a serial entrepreneur of sorts and just before what came to become Copenhagen Distillery, he'd joined Thank You Studios, which was in the business of design and film-making - not the typical background you'd expect from a whiskymaker! Brinks had mentioned that his dream to build a distillery in Copenhagen had been a long time coming (ever since he visited the Clynelish Distillery in 1991), and thus even quite some time before the founding of Copenhagen Distillery, he was already running his own distillations in his basement. According to Frandsen, who had founded Thank You Studios, folks at the agency had found Brinks' whisky pretty tasty and thus when Brinks had become frustrated with the bureaucracy of trying to work with the Copenhagen University to start a distillery, Frandsen would step in to endorse for Thank You Studios to get into the spirits making business and that's where Copenhagen Distillery emerged. Given that Denmark as a country was still largely new to the craft of whiskymaking, the early days were therefore rather makeshift.

The original Copenhagen Distillery farmhouse.

Brinks would initially take up premise in a small historic 18th century farmhouse on the outskirts of Copenhagen. This was initially a pottery and tile workshop, before later housing one of the first breweries in Copenhagen, that was until Brinks took over. Brinks would operate out of the brick constructed farmhouse for several years before eventually relocating Copenhagen Distillery to its current in-city location - a warehouse that was once a truck washing facility. From the get go, it was clear that as Copenhagen's first distillery, Brinks had endeavoured to set pace for what should be the standard. A core tenet to that was to have sustainability be at the heart of the distillery - in both how the distillery was designed, as well as how whisky and spirits would be made. Initially the distillery, as most do, started out by producing gin (said to be the world's first honey-based single botanical gin), and eventually expanded to snaps (also a world's first, made solely of long pepper), liqueurs and aquavit, all whilst it figured out whiskymaking - the whole idea as Brinks mentions was really to set out to be completely unique. 

Learning how to make whisky from the ground up.

And again, whilst the distillery has been operational for the past 10 years, it's hard to find much history on its whiskymaking - which when finally pieced together, really seems to be a tale of two halves that tells of a distillery that's been in the process of learning from the ground up just how to make whisky.

In its first chapter, Brinks himself had served as the distiller in those early days (~ around 2015), and at the time the focus seemed to be placed on getting the distilling and maturation right, and thus interestingly, the wash used was sourced from various suppliers, albeit made to Brinks' specifications. Brinks had also designed his own distillation still, enlisting the help of a local metal shop, again made to his specifications, which touted the ability for various components to be switched in and out, allowing for more experimentations - this seems to have since been upgraded to a custom Müller hybrid still which combines pot and column still distillation into a single distillation run. It was under Brinks that the really minimalist and simple aesthetic of Copenhagen Distillery's bottles, which also rather uniquely come in a square shaped glass bottle, was conceived - that seems to have persisted till the distillery's current iteration today, along with the use of Hungarian oak for cask maturing its whiskies, which too seems to have survived the distillery's evolution. The whole concept then was rather rustic and simplistic, instead of the more sleek and polished sensibility that it coneys today.

Now it's for certain that Brinks had in 2015 already produced his own whiskies which were left to mature in casks, and were due for release some time in 2016/2017, yet it wasn't till 2020 that the distillery would release its inaugural First Edition single malt whisky - a 3 year old expression (and thus were distilled sometime in 2017, after the distillery was no longer operated by Brinks). I do wonder what had happened to those early whiskies that Brinks had made.

From reinvention till modernity.

Well, 2017 thus seems like the year which marked the second half of Copenhagen Distillery's story (at least till today in 2024) - this was when the distillery had brought on their current Master Distiller Lasse Öznek, and had moved to their current in-city premises in 2016. The distillery's co-founder Frandsen had mentioned that the old location had proved limiting in terms of expansion and production quality - and probably didn't quite deliver in terms of that sleek and polished Danish minimalist and modern sensibility. "We started out with a banged-up drum set in a garage playing punk rock, and now we are sort more creating edgy pop. We are maybe more like Robyn than Nirvana these days," said Frandsen. And thus 2017 marked a new, more polished chapter for Copenhagen Distillery - it stands to reason then that the whiskies finally released under the Copenhagen Distillery name are only what has been produced in the new distillery and not the original farmhouse venue.

“We are very open about our limitations, but sometimes naivety is a necessity in order to create something new and fresh. Humility is the key though. We consistently try to improve incrementally, which means that some of our products are constantly changing, but under the same label. We like to think of those products as being alive, constantly evolving, constantly improving.

We found out through different fan pages created on Facebook that people were respectively outraged and delighted when our product evolved. I mean isn’t it wonderful that people feel that strongly about our products? Our goal is to create fans not consumers, and if we in the process alienate a few, so be it." says Frandsen.

And now the story seems to make more sense - again bear in mind that a cohesive understanding of Copenhagen Distillery (also nicknamed CPH Distillery) was the result of quite some detective work in piecing together random strands of information from across a decade of its operations - it seems that the distillery had started out as a venture based on Brinks' early solo work which showed promise as Copenhagen then had no distillery of its own, and yet as time went on, there was a necessity for the venture to fully develop into a much more commercially viable one, and thus the concept was given a serious overhaul and was thus scaled up in terms of its facilities, resources and manpower.

Lasse Öznek.

What goes on in Copenhagen Distillery?

And thus around 2016/2017 when the big overhaul happened, the new distillery had finally been set up - one that even has the capacity for live entertainment - and Öznek had thus been brought in to take over from Brinks as Master Distiller, Öznek himself coming from a career in the pharmaceutical industry. Together they would undergo the process of what seems like an overhaul of their whiskymaking as well. As Öznek mentions, they began by setting down what they wanted out of their whiskies and began finding the appropriate set up that could deliver that - this landed on them using a unique plate mill that would crack open the barley and leave in bigger pieces for mashing, which would in turn unlock naturally present lactic bacteria from the organic barley which was thus able to produce more flavours. They began sourcing organic Odyssey barley locally from North Jutland (five hours away from the distillery), which they would ferment for up to 7-8 days, much longer than the industry standard. They've mentioned that as the barley is organic, the yields tend to naturally drop and the ground from which they are harvested has to be allowed to fallow for some time, which translates into the distillery having to constantly look for new strains of barley. With the organic barley harvested, distillation is only done once as Öznek believes that multi-distillation strips away the whisky's flavours.

Since the days of Brinks (who has still remained as CEO of Copenhagen Distillery), the distillery has continued to use Hungarian virgin oak (which are limited in terms of how many can be harvested each year), as they have from the start, which they've also cited as being much more tighter grained and dense. They've eschewed the more common Bourbon and Sherry casks, and opt to toast their casks instead of char them if needed. They're fairly conscious of how in their climate, the casks are constantly exposed to big temperature swings and thus whilst this has the effect of accelerating aging of the whiskies, it also does put them at risk of losing a large amount of angel's share. Each distillation run still remains fairly small, and the distillery has rationalised their whiskies into three primary concepts - Raw, Refined and Rare. Raw is pretty much the whisky coming right out of the Hungarian virgin oak casks - the purest expression of their base whisky. Refined is the opposite - the whisky here is aged in a previously filled cask that has been seasoned with spirits that are produced by the Copenhagen Distillery themselves. And Rare is reserved for the distillery's most experimental expressions - for example one that uses rare local organic Danish emmer wheat.

Copenhagen Distillery's First Edition single malt.

And whilst the distillery's production remains comparatively small, and its whiskies can come off rather eclectic at times, the distillery has definitely made some palpable waves at whisky festival showcases that are typically attended by Brinks and Öznek. They've slowly and steadily built a name for themselves for sparing no expense in chasing down making whiskies that are completely unique and innovative. But they don't come cheap! Each bottle of Copenhagen Whisky comes in somewhere between US$200-350 depending on whether it's the Raw, Refined or Rare - and so today we're down to find out if they deliver!

Today we're going to be trying Copenhagen Distillery's Raw and Refined Editions. 

Let's go!

Whisky Review: Raw Edition Single Malt Whisky Copenhagen Distillery

The Raw Edition comes from 100% organic Danish barley, and is aged in toasted Hungarian virgin oak casks.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold

Aroma: Really concentrated and rich with loads of dark cherries and brown sugar. Incredibly aromatic! Beneath that is some raw honey, walnut oil and polished leather. It’s really quite radiant and intense, calling towards wheated Bourbons.

Taste: More on that dark cherry and brown sugar that breaks away to give cherry crumble and baking spices of cloves and cinnamon. More on stewed figs, prunes, dates, all coated in muscovado sugar or molasses. Towards the back it’s almost Cognac like with maltose candy and black raisins. It’s got great intensity with a really nice spiciness to it. Medium-bodied yet really concentrated, bold and flavour forward. It’s almost this radiant burst of flavour.

Finish: Spicy and clean finish - incredibly satisfying and invigorating! It’s still so powerful and intense into the finish, delivering more of those classic Sherried notes of leather, prunes and figs, all encased in a shot of maltose candy and muscovado sugar. 

My Thoughts

Wow! Wow! Wow! I have to say this really caught me off guard with how intense and unique it is - and of course incredibly tasty! It’s so refreshing to find something so outstanding and different. The flavours here are incredibly bold and forward, delivering big notes of dark cherries and muscovado sugar in the most precise and concentrated manner - and yet seems to find a way to maintain this chiselled elegance. It’s rich yet intentional, it feels like everything packaged here is by design and so precisely cut to just keep the utmost of flavours. 

And somehow along the way, it demonstrates its ability to take on different forms of the same two primary flavours of dark stone fruits and dark sugar - at times coming off like Cognac and in other instances like a wheated Bourbon that might start with a P, else it might take the form of Sherry - it’s completely versatile and perfected. Now granted, this is rather pricey but they’re not fooling around - if we’re talking taste alone, this justifies the price. This is a definite stunner.

Whisky Review: Refined Edition Single Malt Whisky Copenhagen Distillery

The Refined Edition comes from 100% organic Danish barley, and is aged in toasted and seasoned Hungarian oak casks. I haven't been able to find out what was used to season these casks!

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Amber

Aroma: This comes off alittle lighter than the Raw Edition, yet it does fan out in complexity with more spices of bay leaves, cloves, licorice, anise, cardamom, that nicely integrates with the more gentle brown sugar here. There are some more darker notes of stewed plums and figs here, as well as a subtle sweetness of mulled wine that resides at the base.

Taste: It opens with some cherry liqueur, along with more of those exotic spices of bay leaves, licorice, anise, cardamom and cloves. That works together to give a sort of medicinal quality about it, almost Amaro like. It’s mellow and spiced, rather complex, with this brown sugar backbone. There’s an understated honeyed and malty character that forms the body, yet isn’t so immediately prominent.

Finish: The spices persist through the finish, here with some polished leather and some cologne. It’s still lightly of brown sugar, receding softly and gently.

My Thoughts

The Refined Edition comes through alot less intense and punchy - it’s much more subtle and gentler, yet also more complex with a whole rack of exotic spices that are very well integrated with the gentle tones of brown sugar. I must say that I am quite impressed with how well integrated the spices are with the body, which I find very aromatic without being overpowering or dominating. It’s almost like a bitters liqueur or amaro - licorice and anise led, coaxed in with a sweeter body of brown sugar. That said it sets itself apart with a more pronounced honeyed maltiness that gives it a brighter and more lifted quality than a bitters. Perhaps the only thing I’d want from this is more of that punchiness and intensity that we saw with the Raw Edition!