INTERVIEW • 11 PHOTOGRAPHY: MIKE WILKINSON
FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW YOU, TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF I am originally from Germany. After school I trained as a dental technician. Four years later, I started my own business and opened my first health club. I ran various health clubs until
2003 when I damaged my right hand in a motorbike accident and had to change my work.
HOW DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER A PASSION FOR WHISKY? The passion came to me when I moved to Switzerland in 2003. After the accident, I had to
recover for nearly two years. Around the same time, I became a single parent and wanted to make a good life for my four- year old daughter. A friend gave me the opportunity to move to Switzerland and it seemed like a much-needed new start. For the first time in my life, I had the time to think about whisky, instead of just drinking it!
HOW SMALL IS THE SWBOE EXACTLY? The bar is 8.53m² – it can hold 20 people comfortably, but the most we have ever had in there was 32 people.
HOW MANY WHISKIES DO YOU STOCK IN THE BAR? We stock about 225 different whiskies. The oldest is 50 years
old and, among the more interesting bottles, are some from the Queen Elizabeth 2 [QE2] ship, which we got before it was sold to an investment company in Dubai.
WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR WHISKIES IN THE BAR? Our own Secret Inspiration [a SWBOE single malt whisky from Switzerland], Bruichladdich’s Octomore, Aberlour’s A’bunadh, Bowmore’s 17 year old and The Macallan 1851 Inspiration all go down well when we recommend them to customers.
AND YOU RUN A WHISKY MUSEUM? The whisky museum, which is underneath the bar, is a result of all the beautiful items I have collected over the years on my travels in Scotland. Different things to see include a malt shovel from 1881, which was donated by Jim McEwan [from Bruichladdich] and dipsticks from Mortlach and Port Ellen. I also have a Thorne’s
whisky bottle from 1911 (distilled around 1890) and various other Thorne’s items collected from all over the world. I am looking into the possibility of arranging the comeback of Thorne’s whisky, which went out of business in 1921
WHEN IT COMES TO RELEASING YOUR OWN WHISKY, WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH? My new products, which are produced at Karl Locher’s Appenzeller distillery, are the result of many years of experiments and tests. I noticed that the price of
whisky is mostly determined by its age, but high price and high quality is not always the same thing. Sure, there are very nice old whiskies, but you also find very good young whiskies. My new products, in
particular ‘Extended Surface Maturation’ and ‘Perpetual Maturing Whisky’, are an attempt to get more taste and quality in shorter time, while hopefully respecting the traditions of whisky making.
YOUR SAY HAVE
What do you think of Gunter’s ideas on new ways to approach maturation? Post your thoughts on the Unfiltered Facebook page at www.Facebook. com/unfilteredmagazine
WHAT MADE YOU THINK UP THE IDEA OF ‘EXTENDED SURFACE MATURATION’? We know that a small cask matures faster in the same conditions than a large cask because of the relation between alcohol and wood surface contact. So I developed casks with up to ten times more surface. This involved carrying out various experiments with casks, especially working on the internal surfaces of these casks to increase the wood to spirit contact. This way, we get maximum benefit from the residual flavours of the cask and from the oak itself, but in a shorter time. I understand this is
controversial for some people, but I believe that tradition and innovation have always gone together in whisky making. This idea raises the quality for younger whiskies, allows stock to leave warehouses faster, making more space for new casks, less angels’ share and quicker return on investment.
HOW DOES PERPETUAL MATURING WHISKY WORK? Perpetual maturing is a form of continual maturation, even in the bottle. A piece of stave from the
cask is attached to the cork and goes into the bottle. Often people buy a bottle and put it in their cabinet and sometimes years later they find it again – but still in the same condition. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a range of bottles that have actually changed in that time? For example, a young
three-year-old whisky, which has been forgotten for 12 years in your cabinet, could now have been matured for 15 years – why not? Compare the taste with a brand new version of the original whisky and you will see the difference. Was it stored in a warm living room or in your cold, dark cellar? All will have a different influence on your whisky. Now the whisky drinker or collector can have some control over maturation. It is nice to see how the colour and flavour is changing; normally you don’t get this chance because you can’t look into a cask during maturation.
WHAT OTHER IDEAS DO YOU HAVE UP YOUR SLEEVE? I have an idea to convert the Clock Tower in Dufftown into a whisky bar. Dufftown is the malt whisky capital of the world and to convert the Clock Tower into an iconic whisky bar is a dream of mine. But a project like this is really complicated and difficult, so I can’t say much more about it at the moment...
THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY
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