Blind tasting award

After a whisky from the same producer beat six Scottish whiskies last year in the smallest bar in the world, the Locher AG Brewery has repeated its success with a special edition of its own creation. In the qualifying round, this whisky surprised the whisky experts present with its manifold aromas, and qualified for the finals even though, at eight years old, it was considerably younger than many of the Scottish whiskies against which it was competing.

The finals were held the following day in a helicopter sight-seeing flight over the sunny region of Oberengadin. Here “Säntis Malt Cask N°1130” asserted itself successfully, taking first place and thus being elected “Whisky Champion of the Air 2011”. As only one barrel of this whisky was produced, it is available only in the new visitor centre of the Locher AG Brewery in Appenzell.

“Ready for take-off!” in the qualifying round

Twelve whisky experts from Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany acted as judges in the qualifying round. Their job was to select three favourites worthy of the title “Ready for take-off!”
 
1. The Glenlivet Archive, Pernod Ricard, 21 years
2. Bunnahabhain Distillery, Caminneci Wine&Spirit Partner, 12 years
3. Säntis Malt Cask N°1130, Locher AG Brewery, 8 years
4. Banff Distillery, Cadenhead‘s, 34 years
5. Glengoyne Distillery, The Whisky Chamber, 13 years
6. Secret Inspiration, SWBOE, 5 years
7. Edradour Distillery, WoW, 15 years

“Champion of the Air” finals

Blind-tasting on Saturday with ten judges (two suffered from aerophobia) from Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany. Their task: to find the “Champion of the Air”:

1. Säntis Malt Cask N°1130, Locher AG Brewery
2. Bunnahabhain Distillery, Caminneci Wine & Spirit Partner
3. The Glenlivet Archive, Pernod Ricard