Denmark likely isn’t the first country you associate with world class whisky. But the talented craftspeople at Stauning are working hard to fix that. It’s been a long, labor-intensive process that began nearly 20 years ago on a remote tract of farmland about a 3.5-hour drive west of downtown Copenhagen. Today that journey from grain to glass is taking a big leap forward with the launch of Sherry Cask Finish Rye, the brand’s first bottling meant exclusively for American shelves. One sip of the new release will leave you wondering what took so long for it to arrive.
Lasse Vesterby has the answer. The co-founder and CEO of Stauning Whisky has been there since the start. Back in 2005, he and eight close friends began distilling local grain in a repurposed butchery that once belonged to his father.
“Curiosity drove us to start Stauning,” he recalls. “We couldn’t understand why no one in Denmark was making whisky, so we decided to try it ourselves as a hobby.”
In transitioning from hobby to veritable enterprise, he insisted on building the liquid in a traditional way. He wanted to follow how it had been done for centuries in Scotland—only with on emphasis on rye as opposed to barley.
“Stauning offers a distinct character by using local Danish rye, floor malting, copper pot stills with direct fire, and carefully controlled maturation processes,” he tells Forbes. “We aim for a refined and smooth rye that’s on par with any great single malt; something elegant and sippable.”
This profile doesn’t emerge overnight, of course. Particularly when you’re committed to never sourcing your whiskies from outside your own operation. And amassing momentum is an outsized task when you’re creating your own category from scratch; “Danish Rye” wasn’t a term that existed in 2005.
Nevertheless, by 2015 the brand had made enough noise to attract the attention of Diageo, which invested £10 million into the company by way of its Distill Ventures accelerator program. Three years later, Stauning cut the ribbon on a sleek new distillery, boasting 24 copper pot stills and a production capacity of 900,000 liters per annum. Despite its rural address, it became an immediate tourist attraction.
Stauning Distillery in Skjern, Denmark opened its doors to visitors in 2018.
“We have about 17,000 visitors on tour every year,” according to Vesterby. “Guests can see every aspect of production, from grain to glass. All the grain is grown within 25 km of the distillery, and we do the bottling at the distillery as well. So it really is the full understanding of how to make whisky in an old school way: floor malting, kilning, mashing, fermentation, distilling, and the warehouses for maturation.”
Beyond the tourist implications, of course, the new homebase afforded Stauning the ability to expand its footprint in global markets. By 2023 it was ready to debut in the US with a sturdy, non-age-statement Danish Rye priced at $60 a bottle.
Its newest US release builds upon that base with a finish in PX and Palo Cortado sherry-seasoned casks, collected from Jerez, Spain. The 101-proof whisky noses with toffee and dill and offers a full body, coating the palate with cardamom spice and orange zest. The impact of the secondary maturation isn’t apparent until near the end of the sip, however, where prunes and tobacco leaf linger.
The latest expression comes at a premium: a suggested retail price of $75 per bottle. And there’s only 800 units set to sell across the US. But Vesterby promises that this is just the beginning of a sustained movement in the months to come.
“Bringing Danish flavor and culture to life in the US is something we’re very excited about in 2025,” he says. “Denmark is renowned for exceptional food and flavor, thanks to Noma and other top restaurants, so we’ll continue to partner with great chefs to showcase our story. For example, we’re working with one of Chicago’s finest bakeries, PQB, on a limited-edition Danish Pastry this December.”
Stateside, Vesterby and his team will continue to prioritize the trade as essential ambassadors for educating consumers about the virtues of Danish rye. “The key to us breaking the US market is in getting our rye into classic American whisky cocktails, and we can only do that with the love of bartenders,” he says.
Throughout the 21st century, the innovative chefs of Denmark have worked tirelessly to position their cuisine atop the global ranks. If Stauning continues on its path, expect the Danish rye category it championed to be met with a similar fate.
Danish rye works its way into modern whisky cocktails.