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The new centre of whisky?

Corina Lovering from the Alexandrion Group provides an answer to the question: is Romania in the process of becoming the next major player in the production of world-class single malt whisky?


It will come as no surprise to anyone that single malt whisky put Scotland on the map, a longstanding heritage that dates back to the time when Egyptian monks are believed to have carried the whisky-making knowledge from the Mediterranean to Ireland, and then onto Scotland.

Today, this knowledge is being spread by master distillers trained in Scotland, to the rest of the world, using a country’s innate resources to create world-class single malt whiskies.

The Japanese have been producing it since 1870 and are widely regarded as making some of the best single malt whiskies in the world, after Scotland. Taiwan’s King Car Group established the Kavalan distillery in 2005 and went onto produce their Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique whisky, which was crowned the World’s Best Single Malt at the 2015 World Whiskies Awards.

Top quality single malts are also produced in Tasmania, Australia with climatic conditions similar to Scotland, whilst Kyrö, Finland’s award-winning single malt brand, inaugurated their production in the 1980s; the list continues to expand across the world.

In 2016, a Romanian drinks company took a similar leap of faith, initiating production of the first-ever single malt category, with the aim of making Romania one of the top single malt producers in the world.

But, is Romania on track to reach this goal? Labelled for more than a decade as one of Europe’s poorest countries, Romania’s economy is now on an upward trajectory.

Agriculture is one of the most important business sectors in Romania, making up – along with fishing and forestry – 3.9% of GDP (2023), representing a 0.4% increase on 2022, according to Romania’s National Statistics Institute (INS).

As one of the top five grain producers, after France, Germany, Poland and Spain, according to Eurostat, Romania produced 1.8 million tonnes of barley in 2023 (21.7% up on 2022).

Single malt whisky distillers select their barley based on its ability to provide a good alcohol level. Two-row-spring varieties are preferred to six-row barley because they have a low nitrogen content, which makes them high in starch and can be malted easily and give a high alcohol yield.

The most popular varieties cultivated in Scotland are Belgravia, Concerto, Optic, Popino, Quench and Shuffle. Concerto and Belgravia are also cultivated in Transylvania and several other varieties of both two-row and six-row barley, such as Artemis, Daciana, Diana, Cardinal FD, Lucian and Onix are also cultivated in Romania.

Water is another essential ingredient for single malt whisky, as it influences flavour formation in its fermentation and is involved in a wide range of duties: malting, mashing, alcohol strength adjustment, raising of steam and cooling.

Romania has limited water resources compared to other countries, with the country lying almost entirely in the Danube River basin, which supplies 44% of the fresh water.

Whereas 98% of Romania’s rivers spring from the Carpathian Mountains, which produces high quality water, having percolated through layers of Neogene volcanic rocks and dolomite, which filters out all impurities.

The climate of Romania is also ideally suited to whisky production being a temperate continental transitional climate, with ocean, continental, Scandinavian-Baltic and sub-Mediterranean influences.

Overall temperatures in Romania are five to six degrees higher than in Scotland, which means that whiskies can mature in as little as three years, with an ABV above 40%.

With Romania possessing all the right ingredients for the production of whisky, the Alexandrion Group, having spent years assessing the country’s potential, initiated Romania’s first-ever single malt whisky, which was launched in October 2022.

Dr Nawaf Salameh, the founding chairman of the Alexandrion Group, planted the initial seeds of an idea for Romania’s first-ever single malt whisky 20 years ago, but when he received the honour of ‘Keeper of the Quaich’ in 2016, his vision turned to reality and kick-started his quest to put Romania on the map of single malt global producers.

Dr Nawaf Salamh, founding Chairman of Alexnadrion Group (L) & Allan Anderson, Master Distiller

Carpathian Single Malt Whisky is made using 100% Romanian malted barley and pure sub-Carpathian water, under the coordination of Allan Anderson, a master distiller with more than 30 years of experience in the production of both Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey.

it is now more than two years since the commercial launch in Romania of Carpathian Single Malt Whisky, it is now available in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy Norway, Germany, Chile, Brazil and the UAE.

It has also been awarded master, silver and gold medals in established international competitions such as the World Whiskies Awards 2024 (UK), the Global World Whisky Masters 2023 (UK), the International Spirits Challenge 2023 (UK), International Wine & Spirits Competition 2023 (UK), the Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2023 (USA). 252

It is clear, that Romania is now on track to be one of the top single malt whisky producing nations globally, based on the achievements of one producer in just two years. It has the barley, the water, the skills, a favourable business environment and a success story that provides a precedent to other producers.

Carpathian Single Malt Whisky is changing perceptions, changing the sector and changing minds. The most important aspect is that it is 100% Romanian and something for our people to be very proud of.


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