Elsburn The Harz

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 46% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Elsburn The Harz Batch 001 is a distillery bottling limited to 5,000 bottles. For this release, 87% of the whisky matured in first- and second-fill sherry hogsheads, while 13% matured in first-fill bourbon barrels. It was bottled at 46% without added colour or chill filtration.

All the barley for this single malt comes from the region. Long fermentation in wooden washbacks and double distillation in wood-fired copper stills shape its production. Five percent of the malt used was dried over wood smoke; on the palate, smoke remains a subtle note alongside the fruit and cask spice.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: The nose offers sweet dried fruit, vanilla and toffee, with spiced malt in the background.
• Palate: On the palate, fresh apricots, raisins, red berries and tropical fruit meet creamy caramel and cream candies. Oak spice and a very subtle note of wood smoke accompany the silky texture.
• Finish: Milk chocolate, honey and moist fruitcake linger on the finish.

Distillery/Bottler:

Hercynian Distilling Co. began distilling whisky at the Hammerschmiede in the Harz in 2002; its first Harz single malt reached the market three years later. The distillery is in Zorge, now part of Walkenried. Karl Theodor Buchholz is its founder and senior head, while Anna Katariina Buchholz oversees operations and distillation. For fermentation, the team uses French oak washbacks. During the second distillation, it defines the heart of the spirit through carefully chosen cut points separating it from the heads and tails. Since 2019, new releases of the single malt previously known as The Glen Els have carried the Elsburn name.

Facts: