Carpathian Single Malt Whisky

Carpathian Single Malt Whisky – Romania’s first single-malt Scotch whisky

Known normally for Dracula, Vlad the Impaler and, if you are old like me, gymnasts (Nadia Comăneci), we visited Romania recently to find out all about the latest addition to the legacy of Romania. Alexandrion Group is known mostly for their liqueurs and wines, however, on World Whisky Day 2022 they launched their own Carpathian single malt whisky. Read on to find out more about the very first Romanian single malt whisky

What is single malt whisky?

A single malt whisky is made from barley at a single distillery. So Carpathian Single Malt Whisky is made using barley at the only whisky distillery in Romania.

Now we have that sorted, let’s find out about Allan.

Master Distiller Allan Anderson

We met with Allan Anderson, their Master Distiller, for a tour around the Alexandrion Group distillery and a chat about the new whisky.

Allan has over 30 years of experience in producing both Scotch whisky and Irish Whiskey. He started his whisky career as a shift technician at Loch Lomond Distillery ending up in the position of distillery/engineering manager.  He then moved on to Whyte & Mackay at Invergordon and then to at Slane in Ireland. After this, he moved to Aberargie Distillery in Perthshire.  Something tells me that Allan likes a challenge and you can’t get more challenging than starting a single malt whisky in the land of Dracula!

Carpathian Single Malt Whisky

Alexandrion Group Founder Nawaf Salameh and Master Distiller Allan Anderson worked together to utilise the stills that were previously used to distil Tuica, which is a traditional Romanian spirit prepared from plum. Developing the whisky into the end product they liked was so successful that traditional whisky stills were installed in the distillery, with more stills planned.

All the raw materials to produce the whisky are sourced from Romania; from the barley to the Carpathian water.

“This whisky perfectly showcases our distillery terroir. The huge flavour impact of our malted barley, the pure sub-Carpathian water combined with the unique flavours of Romanian, Portuguese, French, Spanish or Italian wine casks make Carpathian Single Malt an exquisite whisky, which without a doubt, will become one of the best in the world as it further matures. The maturation in warmer climate regions versus Scotland (+5°C on average) might explain the unique, milder character of this superb whisky,”

Allan Anderson

While Scottish whiskies are matured in Bourbon with finishes typically coming in port, rum or sherry casks, the three inaugural expressions of Carpathian are Madeira cask-finished, Pinot Noir and Feteasca Neagra, which is a native Romanian dark-skinned grape variety meaning ‘black maiden’. Some of the wine casks used come from wineries that are part of the Alexandrion Group.

What do they taste like?

The three initial releases have strong input from the casks. These are my own thoughts on the whiskies, of course, yours may well be different. The Fetească Neagră is amber in colour with toffee apple and oak notes. The Pinot Noir is a more intense finish, much like the wine, with tannic notes on the nose but surprisingly mellow in taste. Last but not least, the Madeira cask finish has a deep colour with raisin and fig notes.

There are plans to bring out an array of finishes, we were lucky enough to be able to try some samples on site. I do hope that these come to market, especially the Moscatel.

The other expressions in the range, yet to launch outside of Romania, are Oloroso, Pedro Ximinez, Tawny port, Commandaria, Burgandy and Cognac.

We’ll keep you up to date on more news as we find out.