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“Because you can't buy happiness... but you can buy whisky and that's pretty much the same thing”

Read stories about Destilerias Liber of A Wardrobe of Whisky blog.

You can read here older articles posted in A Wardrobe of Whisky since 2009.
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Embrujo de Granada: How whisky is crafted under the Spanish Sun

By Miguel in Tasting , Featured , Destilerias Liber

During the last WhiskyLive Madrid, Fran Peregrina invited me to visit Destilerías Liber, a small malt whisky distillery that are responsible for the first single malt spanish whisky that it is born just under Sierra Nevada in Granada, Andalucía.

alhambra-granada

A few weeks ago I found a free work day and I decided to visit Granada and visit the distillery that it is just ten minutes far from Granada. They accept visits with a booking at info@destileriasliber.com.

So this was my experience there.

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WhiskyLive Madrid 2011 Tastings

By Miguel in Tasting , News , Featured , Destilerias Liber , Laphroaig , DYC , The Macallan , Compass Box , Suntory , Yamazaki , Edradour , Talisker

WhiskyLive Madrid 2011 celebrated at May, 26 on Hotel Villamagna, has been a great whisky show against all the odds: Great whisky, pretty girls, good friend. Whatelse?!

Touching a bottle of Macallan 25 years old at Macallan Masterclass in WhiskyLive MadridFinally I got time to write down the tasting notes and here they are. I am quite happy of the result. The whisky show has been great and I tried lots of expressions that it is not easy to taste here in Spain.

During the evening at WhiskyLive Madrid, that I spent with Richard Barr of WhiskyIsrael, we tasted more than twenty whiskies so bear with me if last tasting notes are not accurate.
If you haven’t read yet about our visit to WhiskyLive do it now!. We had a great evening together.

So here are the tasting notes. I am still missing some of them that I wasn’t able to properly write while on the show.

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WhiskyLive Madrid 2011: A whisky show at Spain's heart

By Miguel in News , Featured , Destilerias Liber , Laphroaig , Lagavulin , DYC , Cardhu , St George , The Macallan , Compass Box , Glenfiddich , Highland Park , Bowmore , Suntory , Yamazaki , Redbreast , Edradour , Talisker

Taking place at the Madrid business center, at the Hotel Villamagna, this whisky fair, although small, has been really interesting with lots of surprises.

Hotel Villa Magna at Madrid

Before attending the show, I meet Richards Barr, a member of Whiskyisrael that was also attending the show and we went there together after having a tasty Spanish lunch.
Richard Barr and Miguel Angel Blanch after 25 drams of whisky at Whiskylive Madrid

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Embrujo de Granada Tasting note

By Miguel in Tasting , Destilerias Liber
84
Embrujo de Granada
A great Spanish whisky ellaborated at Granada, just under Sierra Nevada using their fabulous water supplies and the best Spanish barley. Then this dark tawny whisky is aged for years in Pedro Ximenez cask from Jerez giving the result of a dark, sweet whisky with lots of raisins and cocoa. It is very floral.

This dram has a tawny-like color.

Nose (84): average. many floral, sweet, raisins and liquorice.

Palate (85): smooth, oily. sweet, a little chocolate, raisins, floral.

Finish (82): average. sweet, chocolate .

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Embrujo de Granada with 84 points over 100.

[UPDATE:] This wqs the a 3.5 years old whisky. One of the very first batches Destilerias Liber released. Just read the tasting note of the older 5-6 years old bottling that I tasted in WhiskyLive Madrid.

The overall experience is not bad: It is a good whisky, not too complex, on the style of the lowlands. I look forward to try it at an older age, as I have been told that they are maturing it more to create a “black label” expression ( Johnnie walker is omnipresent in Spain :P )


Destilerias Liber: Alhambra and mountains distilled

By Miguel in Featured , Destilerias Liber

Destilerias Liber creates Embrujo de Granada whisky at Padul, in the south of Granada, Andalusia. It is the first Spanish single malt whisky to be commercialized.

Foundations

La Alhambra Granada España

Destilerias Liber is the dream of a man, Fran Peregrina, about making whisky on the south of Spain, just under Mulhacén, spanish mainland highest mountain. Their whisky is crafted with passion, and patience, using cooper stills, the best barley from near fields and the pure water of Sierra Nevada, to mature later in the darkness of the warehouse sleeping in pedro ximenez oak casks.

Destillerias Liber was founded in May of 2001 and started operations in December of 2002. It started as a cooperative of 55 partners, most of them friends. The whole process is run by three of them. Embrujo de Granada is an artisans whisky.

The Process

Sierra Nevada Granada

The idea of creating a distillery at the south of Spain was inspired into Francisco Peregrina after reading “El Amante del Whisky” ( Whisky Lover ). They decided to run the full process at the distillery: flooring, brewing, distillation and maturation in american oak casks.

Brewing

The water that comes from Sierra Nevada natural park and the malt is choosen from near fields. After that malt is milled and mixed with hot water to create the grist. The wort is then filtered and the yeasts are added to it to start the fermentation that last between 48 and 72 hours. The result is a beer of around 6º to 8º.

Distillation

Still where Embrujo de Granada is distilled
The stills, created by a copper artisan at the Albaicin, Granada and designed by Liber, distills the beer two times: the first up to 25º to 30º and the next day removing heads and tails up to 60º.

Ageing

This spirit is stored in american oak casks of 600 litres that contained Pedro Ximenez sherry for ageing. The whisky is matured at the warehouse around 5 years before being reduced to 40º and bottled from a single cask. The maturation is faster than scotch whisky because the weather alternates very hot summers with cold winters. The angel’s share varies between casks but it is around 6% per year.

Embrujo de Granada: the Whisky

a bottle of Embrujo de Granada
The whisky is not coloured nor chill-filtered. Each batch consists of a single cask although sometimes it is blended with other casks to keep up a standard flavor and color.

Read the tasting note.