International Whiskey Day; celebrating whiskey from around the world

It’s International Whisk(e)y Day, and we’re raising a glass to exceptional whiskies from around the world. To mark the occasion, we’ve invited Will Hawkes (Fortnum & Mason Awards Drinks Writer of the Year 2021 & 2023) to catch up with our team of experts here at Crisp Malt, exploring their favourite drams and the stories behind them. From Japan to the Faroe Islands, there’s a world of flavour and fascinating heritage waiting to be discovered, so read on to find out more.

If the great whisky writer Michael Jackson was still with us, he would celebrate his 84th birthday today (27 March). It wouldn’t be his only cause for celebration, I suspect: this famously shrewd Yorkshireman would surely be delighted to see how the joy of whisky has spread around the globe. “There is no end to this pleasure,” he once wrote about whisky. That’s more true now than ever.

International Whisk(e)y Day was founded in 2008, a year after Jackson’s death, to celebrate whisk(e)y on his birthday. And there’s so much to celebrate now, as Crisp’s Technical Director Dr Dave Griggs points out. “If you had a map in front of you showing all the distilleries, you’d be amazed how many there are, all over – France and Italy, Germany and Scandinavia, China, India, Japan and the USA. Whisk(e)y is made all over the world.”

Crisp plays a central role in this global movement, not least as the principal sponsor of the World Whisky Forum, which brings whisky-makers from around the globe together for two days of knowledge-sharing on an every 18-month basis. “We’re proud to support the World Whisky Forum,” says Crisp’s Colin Johnston, Sales and Marketing Director.

“You think you know all the places where whisk(e)y is being made, but you don’t. When you go to the World Whisky Forum, you meet more and more people from around the world, who are making whisk(e)y in Africa, South America, Asia, all over.”

This global movement has not simply spread Scottish traditions to all four corners of the earth, but created new ones. Great ideas, it turns out, can come from anywhere, as can great whisk(e)y.

Nordic Innovation

Dave chuckles as he remembers one of the most out-there whisk(e)y iterations he’s tried. “Instead of using peat to smoke the malt, they’d used sheep dung,” he says of a whisk(e)y made by the Icelandic producer Eimverk. “Actually, it tasted fine.”

Not all Nordic producers are quite so outlandish, but there’s a clear spirit of adventure when it comes to their whisk(e)y. A great example is Smögen Whisky, established in 2009 by Pär Caldenby, a lawyer, whisky enthusiast and author. “He was one of the first experimenters with our heritage grains,” says Colin. “He uses Chevallier and Maris Otter. That’s a lovely thing about the spread of whisk(e)y around the world: they don’t have to play by the rules set down in Scotland – and Pär doesn’t play by anyone’s rules.”

One deeply-held convention in the whisk(e)y world is that much of the flavour comes from the barrel in which the liquid is aged, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Malt, particularly speciality malt, can provide the backbone. “You’ve got to put it in wood, but it doesn’t have to be overpowered by the wood,” says Dave. “Three years and one second in the barrel is enough!”

Using speciality malt is a great way for distillers to distinguish themselves, Ben O’Gorman, Crisp’s commercial manager, distilling, says. “It’s a crowded market,” he says. “So it’s important to stand out.”

Big Ideas on a Small Island

The Faroe Islands boasts around 55,000 residents, and the Faer Isles Distillery – reputedly the most isolated distillery in the world – is equally modest in size. But what they lack in volume, they more than make up for in ambition. Their whisk(e)y matures in traditional Faroese hjallur: a slatted wooden food storehouse that allows plenty of exposure to the islands’ salty, moist climate.

They’ve been able to do this partly thanks to Crisp, which has provided guidance right from the start – from how to deal with the moist Faroese climate (not that different, it turns out, to Scotland’s) to providing Scottish-made malt in one-tonne sacks.

“We have the only malt bagging facility in Scotland,” says Ben about Crisp’s Alloa line, which was installed in 2020. “It means that we’re perfectly placed to support craft distillers like Faer Isles.”

Japan’s quality-obsessed culture

Few foreigners know Japan’s whisky culture better than Dave Griggs. He made his first visit to the country 25 years ago, and has returned on multiple occasions. In that time the country has gone from a handful of producers to over 160 distilleries, a testament to the Japanese passion for whisky and their ability to produce it to the highest standard.

“Japan is the only country where I’ve been asked to put on a full-body suit, hood and wellington boots included, before going into the distillery,” Dave says. “That’s the level they’re operating at – it’s a very precise, science-based culture, and it’s why their whisky wins so many awards.”

This commitment to quality extends to the location of many of Japan’s new distilleries, according to Dave: they tend to be beautiful spots, designed for welcoming visitors as much as making whisky. “You don’t see many Japanese distilleries on an industrial estate,” he says.

These Japanese distillers are equally elegant in their use of Crisp’s peat malt, as Colin points out. “A lot of them use it as an extremely subtle note in the background – you know, it’s not a Laphroaig or an Ardbeg. It’s just a hint of smoke in the background, almost undetectable as Peat, but it layers in complexity.”

New Traditions in Korea

If whisky production is well established in Japan, it’s just picking up speed across the water in South Korea. The pioneers are Ki One Whisky Distillery, led by founder Bryan Do and Scottish distiller Andrew Shand, who launched their first single malt in 2023.

Ki One uses Crisp malt, but their product is not simply a recreation of what you’d find in Scotland. Unique maturation conditions make their whisk(e)y a genuinely Korean product.

Based in the Namyangju mountains north-east of Seoul, Ki One has to battle hugely challenging maturation conditions. It’s a fast process, influenced by 40c summer days – but in the winter, the distillery sits in shade, snow on the ground, the air bitterly cold. “So they get these huge swings in temperature,” says Colin. “And all the warehouses are right there at the distillery, which gives them their unique profile.

“The spread of single malt around the world has meant that each country, and to a certain degree, distillery, has put their own sort of stamp on it, whether that be through selection of novel ingredients, cask selection, but I think more importantly, the maturation conditions. That’s certainly true in Korea.”

Old Traditions in Scotland

So where does this leave Scotland, traditional home of whisk(e)y? It’s still hugely important. To choose one example, it’s the source of the globe’s finest peated malt, and new distilleries all over the world still look to it for inspiration, according to Ben O’Gorman.

Dave, one of the most well-travelled in the whisk(e)y world, says you can see that wherever you go. “Wherever you go around the world, you’ll see Scottish single malt behind the bar,” he says. “Like Japan, for example – it’s not like they’ve just shut the door and said, ‘We don’t need your Scottish whisky anymore, we’ve got our own production’. You go into a whisk(e)y bar in Japan and the shelves are full of Scotch alongside the Japanese-produced whisk(e)y.”

It’s a scene Michael Jackson would have recognised – albeit the options are much wider and more diverse than ever before. We can all raise a glass to that.