Lantenhammer - Slyrs

Lantenhammer - Slyrs

Among the myriad of small German distilleries which have turned to distilling whisky in recent years are a few which distil from malted barley only. In other words, they make German single malt whisky. One of these malt whisky distilleries is situated in Schliersee, Bavaria.

Lantenhammer distillery dries its malt with the smoke of burning beech wood. The spirit is distilled twice in a Holstein-type still and then matured for 3 years in 225 liter American White Oak casks. The whisky is bottled at 43%, under the ‘Slyrs’ label. Released are annual and quite limited and the first released, the 1999 vintage, was in 2002.

The nose of Slyrs is full-creamy, with vanilla and fruits. The palate is malty, with hints of mocha-chocolate. Towards the finish it becomes somewhat bitter and woody-dry. Despite then use of wood smoke, I can’t detect any similarities with the best-known wood-smoked malt whisky: St George. Slyrs does have an unusual note playing through the more familiar notes of fruit and malt. Difficult to put my finger on, but it reminds me a bit of acetone. To me, Slyrs is by far the best German whisky I have tasted so far. Curious how it will develop over the coming years, and also what longer maturation