DuckDrams

Second half of July I spend a week in Vienna for work, a science conference on mathematical modelling in ecology and evolution. Getting there from my home in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany was fairly convenient with the ÖBB Night Jet, with their new sleeper wagons with individual pods. Or shall we call it sarcophagi? Good thing I’m not claustrophobic. My only complain is that the lighting system randomly switched on several times in the middle of the night…

After the conference was over I devoted a late Thursday afternoon to check out the whisky shops in town. I started with Whisky Wien, located right next to my hotel. Not a very busy afternoon, so I had a good long chat with the shop owner. Turns out this used to be the Cadenhead’s Vienna shop, but not so long ago Cadenhead’s dropped the licensing for the out-of-UK shops. So now it’s just a regular whisky shop. There was still plenty of Cadenhead’s bottlings left to be sold, but now the owner is in a bit of a pickle finding a new niche for himself. While on the CA licence, he could buy stock at a very good price, and was the only retailer for this bottler in the country. To buy other brands now he must usually go via the EU or national distributors, with a different pricing situation. He’s to small to make direct arrangement with distilleries or key brands. It was a nice little shop, and he offered me to try some drams, but I was not in the mood to start drinking yet. I really wanted to buy something to support his business, but there was no bottle that made sense for my collection.

Next, I went to Grand Whisky Wien. Nothing grand about it. Very small, but with lots of mirrors to make it look bigger. Mostly standard bottles, and the few bottles of more interesting stuff was non-competitively priced.

At this point it was nearing closing times and I had to choose between Hirschenbrunner and Potstill. Hirschenbrunner looks on the images like a really cool place, and I bought bottles from them online before. But I had also gone through their entire stock list online recently and knew there was nothing I had to buy, so I decided to take a chance with Potstill instead.

After a little while of just browsing at Potstill, I ended up chatting with the store owner. There was ongoing renovation works because they had just moved into the present space from their previous location. One could try whisky samples, but usually at a cost; however I ended up getting some free samples. First of their own bottling of a 10yo Wolfburn that I had been eyeing since I entered — nice and spirit-driven, but a bit steeply priced at close to €100. Thereafter also an exclusive Annandale that he insisted I try. He gave me a tour of the basement where there was a massive amount of additional stock. They are the national distributor for many brands, including Springbank. He had just received a large shipment from them. I tried to convince him to sell me a bottle of Springbank 12yo CS, but they were already spoken for. He suggested I could buy A 30yo Springbank for over €3000… I was told about the planned whisky tasting rooms, and the section with only bottles in the thousands of euros range. A whisky paradise, that I’d visit again next time in Vienna.

Interesting contrast of whisky shops: The small Whisky Wien, struggling to keep business afloat, and the new flagship Potstill store with national distribution deals and whisky wealth to flaunt.