The nonetheless room at Stauning is silent.
Copper gleams within the morning mild. Rows of stills —24 in complete—stand in neat traces, like sleeping devices ready for a conductor. However there’s no warmth within the coils. No sound of effervescent wash. No spirit dripping into the secure.
Stauning nonetheless sells whisky. Its warehouses are stocked, the model stays sturdy, the whisky is flowing—into glasses, not stills. However what’s a whisky distillery that not distills? That’s a troublesome query. A distillery can keep alive on cask gross sales for some time. However when the spirit isn’t being made, it’s like a coronary heart that’s stopped beating—ready for revival or actuality to sink in.
This isn’t a narrative of failure. Nevertheless it is a narrative of reckoning, one that claims as a lot in regards to the state of craft whisky at the moment because it does about Stauning itself. At its heart stands Hans Martin Hansgaard, one among 9 co-founders and reluctant witness to a dream in stasis.
“We At all times Made Issues Ourselves”
Hansgaard is a passionate bike owner, although he jokes he’s “too tall and heavy to be a aggressive racer.” As an alternative, he channels that power into making issues. He builds classic titanium bikes by hand, simply as he helped put collectively the unique Stauning stills and solid a distillery from a backroom butchery. “From the start,” he says, “We at all times made issues ourselves. Not simply whisky—every little thing.”
The concept started in 2005, in a summer season home on the Danish coast. Martin Vesterby, a physician and one of many founders, had heard a radio program about whisky manufacturing. He wasn’t a whisky geek, but it surely caught with him: barley, yeast, water—that’s all you want. And Denmark had all three, in abundance. Why wasn’t anybody making whisky right here?
He gathered just a few trusted mates, who gathered their mates. Hansgaard was introduced in as a result of he was “the whisky man,” a particular wants trainer by occupation, however a passionate drinker and thinker when it got here to spirits.
Every of the 9 founders put in 15,000 Danish kroner, about $2,300 on the time. They purchased two stills from Portugal, put in them in a 25-square-metre tiled butchery, and began experimenting. The concept was to fill a cask every so often, as a weekend interest. Their strategy—together with flooring maltings and hand-turning grains and the usage of native peat and rye—grew to become the spine of their philosophy.
From Butchery to World Stage
Over time, Stauning grew—cautiously, intentionally. From the butchery to farm buildings. From 9 hobbyists to knowledgeable operation. The core values stayed the identical: do every little thing your self, make it native, and by no means compromise on taste.
Then, in 2015, the massive shift got here: Diageo, by means of its accelerator program Distill Ventures, invested in Stauning. It was a daring transfer for each events. Stauning was tiny in comparison with the scotch giants in Diageo’s portfolio, however their spirit, particularly their smoked single malt and 100% malted Danish rye, had captured consideration.
With Diageo’s assist, Stauning constructed a purpose-designed distillery. A set of angular buildings, impressed by the fishing huts round Ringkøbing Fjord, have been constructed on the sting of the village. “If you scale up, everybody tells you to get greater stills,” Hans mentioned. “However all our greatest whiskies had come from small ones. So we mentioned no. We’d quite handle the complexity than lose the character.”
Flooring maltings have been saved. Direct-fired stills stayed. Even the unique flame-fed stills from the farm have been preserved, proper all the way down to the burn marks on the ground. “We might have painted over it,” Hans mentioned. “Made it look cleaner. However that’s our historical past.”
When the Cash Strikes On
When the event was full, Stauning had an annual capability of 1 million liters, although they weren’t producing at full tilt. Gross sales have been wholesome, worldwide distribution was rising, and the U.S. market was being actively developed.
After which, in early 2025, the underside fell out.
Diageo quietly introduced it could not assist new investments by means of Distill Ventures and would wind down its involvement in current partnerships. Stauning, like others within the portfolio, instantly discovered itself and not using a monetary security internet. “It was a shock,” Hansgaard mentioned. “We had no warning. Instantly, we needed to change every little thing.”
The U.S. group was let go, manufacturing was halved, and the stills have been turned off. Not as a result of the whisky wasn’t good. Not as a result of the enterprise had failed. However as a result of the runway vanished.
What Are We With out the Making?
Strolling by means of the silent nonetheless room with Hansgaard was a quiet emotional second. “That is the guts of the distillery,” he mentioned. “But when it’s not pumping, if nothing’s flowing…is it nonetheless a coronary heart?”
Stauning can proceed promoting from its inventory for years. Like many distilleries, it lays down way over it bottles every year. However one thing modifications when a distillery stops making spirit. It turns into a model, not a producer. A narrative, not a course of. And for a spot like Stauning, which constructed its identification on course of, that’s an existential shift.
“With out the making,” Hansgaard ponders, “what are we?”
Rye, Smoke, and the Danish Soul
On the coronary heart of Stauning’s uniqueness is its strategy to rye. In contrast to the American customary — typically unmalted and blended with corn or wheat — Stauning’s rye is 100% malted, double-distilled in copper pot stills, and formed with the identical care as single malt.
Rye is deeply Danish. “We eat rye bread each day,” Hansgaard explains. “It’s our nationwide meals, actually.” So it made sense to make whisky with it. Stauning smoked malts with native peat and heather, and matured its distillate in mezcal, Tabasco, and balsamic vinegar casks. Some experiments failed, however others revealed totally new flavors.
Now, with manufacturing paused, the main target is on consolidation—going by means of the archive of experiments. Discovering what labored. Scaling all the way down to the perfect. Getting ready for no matter comes subsequent.
What Retains a Founder Going?
Hansgaard just isn’t one for drama. He doesn’t communicate in soundbites. He displays, then replies. However once I requested him what it has meant to hold this by means of, his phrases have been unusually sharp. “I used to be 27 once we began,” he mentioned. “I’d simply certified as a trainer. I believed I used to be constructing a enjoyable aspect mission. However now… It’s formed my entire grownup life. This is my life.”
There was no bitterness in his voice. Simply actuality, and gratitude as effectively. “I’m fortunate. To have constructed one thing like this—even now,” he added.
Between Chapters
The story of Stauning is way from over, however it’s between chapters. “We are going to nonetheless make some alcohol, (with a) give attention to growing and innovation,” mentioned co-founder Alex Munch. However the group continues to be determining what they’ll afford to do—which markets to stay in, learn how to maintain the lights on, the stills heat, and the spirit alive.
They’re not alone. World wide, different distilleries are asking the identical questions: Can we scale with out promoting out? Can we maintain our values and pay our employees? Can we discover a method again when the cash walks away?
Some will. Others received’t. Stauning isn’t fairly completed but.
