Our next stop is St. Kilian Distillers, Germany's largest whisky distillery. Rüdenau is still in Bavaria, but it's no longer really in the Spessart. We don't want to be too fussy, so we make the detour to Rüdenau and find the place, which is inspired by Scottish traditions. The distillery was founded in 2016 and launched its first whisky in 2019. It combines pure barley malt, copper stills and German engineering expertise to produce internationally celebrated whiskies.

On Site

We can explore the distillery as part of a guided tour, which includes interesting insights into whisky production and tastings of their award-winning drinks.

St. Kilian Distillers offers a wide range of whiskies and even a dry gin.

Single Malt Whisky:

These are made from pure barley malt and inspired by Scottish traditions. They include varieties such as ‘Classic’ (mild and fruity) and ‘Peated’ (rich and smoky) .

Blended Malt Whisky:

These are combinations of single malts from different distilleries.

Blended Whiskies:

Examples of this are their whiskies with the flavours / themes ‘Bud Spencer’ and ‘Terence Hill’, which consist of a blend of single malt and grain whiskies.

Limited editions and special editions are also produced, featuring unique flavours and maturation processes.

Last but not least:

I have always written whisky and not whiskey here. This is not a misprint, because the one without ‘e’ comes from Ireland or Scotland. The one with ‘e’ comes from America. However, since the whisky makers feel obliged to the European distilling tradition, their whisky without ‘e’ has to manage without...