6 days ago
I Love Spanish Whisky And So Should You. Here's Why.
The official Topaketa festival glass with the Bilbao Guggenheim in the background.
You'd be forgiven for not knowing that Bilbao, the Basque region's largest city in Spain, has become an influential whisky hub.
Ok, 'influential' may be a stretch, but not if we're considering the evolving world of Spanish whisky. Last weekend, Spanish whisky fans and producers gathered for the second ever Whisky Topaketa festival, which featured a wide variety of whisky producers from across the country (and from neighbouring Portugal) showing off their wares alongside local brand representatives from more well-known international brands.
The festival has quickly become an important date in the calendar for Spain's tiny but passionate whisky community. It was eclectic and intimate, featuring a wide variety of tastings, lectures, and classes that gave space for Spanish producers to shine while international brands could introduce themselves to eager Spanish whisky geeks.
Now, a personal disclaimer - I was invited as a VIP to the festival, where I ran tastings and gave a lecture on the dangers of cask whisky investment.
While this was a fun and fulfilling assignment filled with great company, mischief, tapas, cocktails and of course whisky, I was particularly eager to get involved as four years ago I wrote one of the first pieces covering this new wave Spanish whisky for Whisky Magazine. At that time, my interviews were all done by phone/video, and due to complicated delivery issues I hadn't been able to try the whiskies or spirits from the producers I spoke with. Now, I finally got to meet them face to face as well as the indefatigable Manu Iturregui, festival organiser and owner of the Residence Cafe, one of Spain's best-known whisky bars. A charismatic connector easily identifiable by his majestic mutton chop mustache, he was thrilled that the festival that he and his team put together was strengthening the ties between the industry and consumers:
'We're very happy as last year we had many of our local distilleries that have now come back but we're also seeing more fans get excited. We're seeing more interest - people know about the big producers but are now pleasantly surprised about the number of distilleries here and the quality of what they're making.'
Four years ago, I wrote how these new craft producers, all operating at a micro-scale in the shadow of Spain's larger DYC distillery, were trying to find their feet in a challenging whisky market. Since then, this embryonic community of whiskymakers still face the same challenges bedevilling any small spirits producer, but after four years something is becoming clear - some world-class whisky is being made in Spain and it will only get better. It deserves the attention from the wider whisky are Spanish Whisky Distilleries Producing Today?
Topaketa's quirky vibe is a wider reflection of where Spanish whisky is currently at - each distillery takes wildly different approaches to their craft.
Basque Moonshiners, located an hour's drive from Bilbao, has emerged as an industry leader - its management team were involved in helping organise the festival while its whiskies and spirits brands have established themselves well not only domestically but in export markets too. Co-founder Jose-Luis Navarro is pleased with what he and his team have accomplished:
'I'm so proud of what we're making at the moment, but we are here amongst our peers, and we are just one option of many great ones. It's great to be able to connect with whisky lovers and others involved in our small industry.'
Navarro's Agot single malts, made with locally grown barley, are skilled, careful studies of fruity aromas and flavors blending together ex-bourbon casks as well as local Rioja wine casks. Each of its Bikkun brand of blends mixes its whisky from celebrated distilleries from other countries - one is a blend incorporating Islay's Bunnahabhain, another whiskey from Illinois' FEW amongst others.
Outside of DYC, Destilerias Liber is Spain's oldest distillery. Founder Fran Peregrina once told me that more than 10 years after he released the first batch of his Embrujo whisky, he revisited that first release and almost cried with shame at its poor quality.
This year at the Topaketa I crowded in a meeting room with some of Spain's best whisky noses and palates including many whiskymakers and whisky club organizers as well as Casknolia founder Rafa Cabello, whose casks are in demand with many of Scotch whisky's top blenders. Peregrina asked us to pick our favorite two samples out of four that he served to help determine which one he should potentially release. Then he sat back and let us work. The entire room was blown away by the quality of his samples - rich, bold whiskies full of character. It's clear Peregrina should only be proud of what he is producing these days.
When I first interviewed Javier Blanco, founder and master distiller of Picos de Cabariezo in rural Cantabria, he didn't have any whisky available to try except new make spirit which he had started maturing in a variety of sherry casks. Four years later, his single cask releases are some of the best young sherried whiskies I've ever tasted, with a Fino cask a particular highlight amongst standouts.
Blanco and his team built their own malting and fermentation equipment themselves as well as other crucial infrastructure, but he credits his kooky alquitara alembic still for the superb spirit that is then further sculpted in his high quality casks. It was his first time at the festival this year:
'I'm a newcomer to the festival and to making whisky. It's been brilliant is to get feedback from fans and industry peers to help understand how we're evolving and what the next steps for us should be.'
In Madrid, José Gómez and Ernesto Huete from Sack Man built their own distillery after years of producing their spirit through Liber. Spirit made from the new distillery isn't old enough to be legally called 'whisky' by E.U. law, but a maturing 18-month old spirit was a stellar blend of fruity and mineral notes - the whisky from here is going to be superb. Bonus points also for baking cookies for festival attendees made from their own spent grains, it was the first time I have ever encountered this.
These weren't the only highlights.
Haran's 12 year old cider cask was phenomenally earthy while the award-winning Siderit are making promising rye whisky. I was also very pleased to discover Portugal's first whisky distillery, Venakki, whose spirits were easygoing yet full of depth.
Little wonder a passionate group of whisky fans has built up as a result. Guillermo Palacios and Diego Paredes from Madrid whisky club Whiskeando travelled to Bilbao for the festival and are thrilled to see how their community is growing:
'We're seeing such a positive evolution with how this community - this year we're able to see our pals who we met the festival last year and its been brilliant to meet so many new whisky fans and producers.' says Palacios.
'That feeling of a unified community feels stronger' comments Paredes.
'You feel it across the country, and we're seeing such interesting things happening with different distilleries. There may be a long way to go, but I really think this is becoming something Spain can be proud of.'
