Press release: Grave Digger - Whisky
HEAVY METAL MEETS SMOKE AND PEAT
St. Kilian Distillers presents two limited Grave Digger Single Malt Whisky Editions
germany's largest whiskey distillery releases the first two strongly gorged heavy metal editions with "tunes of war" and
"metal turf beast",
and thus pays tribute to the german heavy metal band grave digger.
Rüdenau, November 2021
For more than 40 years, Grave Digger has been one of the most authoritative and influential bands in the German metal scene. Their legendary Scotland trilogy "Tunes of War", "The Clans will Rise again" and "Fields of Blood" is a tribute to Scottish history. Reason enough for St. Kilian Distillers to pay tribute to the band Grave Digger, founded in 1980, with their first two Heavy Metal Editions. For the "Tunes of War" edition, limited to 6,340 bottles, the single malt whisky was matured in 225 litre ex-red wine casks. The Heavily Peated barley malt with 54 "parts per million" (ppm) comes from the Scottish Highlands and embodies heavy metal in its purest form. For the second, strictly limited "Metal Turf Beast" edition, Ultra Heavily Peated barley malt with 91 ppm was used, which was also delivered directly from the Scottish Highlands. A total of 870 bottles were bottled of this single malt, which was allowed to mature in 30 litre ex-Port Wine and ex-Oloroso Sherry casks respectively. - The two extraordinary Heavy Metal Editions will be presented and tasted together with the participants at the large St. Kilian Online Whisky Tasting on 11 December 2021 at 7:00 pm.
HEAVY METAL GOES WITH PEAT
What heavy metal is for the music industry, peat is for the whisky connoisseur. It quickly became clear to Andreas Thümmler, owner of the St. Kilian distillery in Rüdenau, and Axel "Ironfinger" Ritt, guitarist of the German heavy metal band Grave Digger, that a collaboration would be promising. "I have been a die-hard heavy metal fan since my earliest childhood, and I share a love of ultra-peaty whisky with Axel," Andreas Thümmler reveals. "The Grave Digger Scotland trilogy meets my taste exactly. The Scottish wars of freedom, the Brave Heart saga in combination with the sounds of the Pipers is pure goosebumps for me." The joint result is the two limited and heavily peated Heavy Metal Editions, which music fans and whisky enthusiasts alike can enjoy.
Heavily peated malt from Scotland
The basis for the St. Kilian Single Malt made in Germany is the use of 100 per cent malted barley. "For the smoky spirits, we rely on the decades of experience of the Scots and get the smoked malt several times a year directly from Glenesk Maltings in the Highlands," says Mario Rudolf, Master Distiller at St. Kilian Distillers. This is because St. Kilian is one of the few distilleries that receive peated malt from Scotland on a large scale. The Scottish malt kilned over peat smoke for St. Kilian Distillers has a phenol content of 54 ppm. "We are also extremely proud of a shipment of very heavily peated malt, the Ultra Heavily Peated Malt, which has a peat content of 91 ppm." Both malt variants provided the basis for the heavy metal editions "Tunes of War" and "Metal Turf Beast".
Sales start 11 December 2021
Both Grave Digger single malt heavy metal whiskies are neither coloured nor chill-filtered and are bottled in a newly designed 0.7-litre bottle with a black metal-look label. The retail price for consumers is € 59.90 for the Heavily Peated "Tunes of War" and € 59.90 for the Heavily Peated "Tunes of War" . 99.90 € for the Ultra Heavily Peated "Metal Turf Beast" Single Malt Whisky. From 11 December 2021, the two limited editions will initially be available online and - subject to sufficient availability - also at selected retailers.
Premiere at the St. Kilian Online Whisky Tasting on December 11, 2021
Together with star guest Axel "Ironfinger" Ritt, the two heavy metal single malt whiskies will be presented live from the stillhouse of Germany's largest whisky distillery on Saturday, 11 December at 7 pm as part of the big online whisky tasting. The online tasting sets with a total of seven whisky samples will be sent to participants in advance so that they can enjoy the now established format from the comfort of their own homes. Registration is now open. The price is 49.00 € per set.
Tasting Notes:
Grave Digger - Tunes of War
Tasting Notes:
| Appearance: | Polished copper |
| Odour: | Sweet peat smoke with crispy bacon envelops the fruity flavours of red grape, raspberry and strawberry. Dry notes of ash and finely spiced oak perfectly round off the sweet-fruity bouquet. |
| Taste: | A creamy-sweet melange of red grapes, ripe apples and juicy peaches with warming peat smoke, accompanied by subtle oak spice and a pinch of pepper, finishing with dry ash notes. |
| Aftertaste: | Long with red grape jelly and apple rings, which are slowly replaced by dry oak, subtly warming wood smoke and fine ash notes. |
Tasting Notes:
Grave Digger - Metal Turf Beast
| Appearance: | Mahogany |
| Odour: | Intensely warming peat smoke with cooling mint and some menthol in the foreground. In addition sweet notes of plum jam and sultana, accompanied by dark chocolate and some tobacco as well as dry-spicy oak with fine ash. |
| Taste: | Wonderfully sweet and intense with plum jam and sultanas, wrapped in warming peat smoke. Notes of red berries follow, lingering with fine tannins and green walnut flavours and dry ash. |
| Aftertaste: | Long with creamy jam of red berries and ripe plums, spiked with green walnut, fine tannins as well as spicy oak and wrapped in dry peat smoke. |
About Grave Digger
The heavy metal band from Gladbeck has been one of the most influential representatives of the German metal scene since its foundation in 1980. With their 21 studio albums, they carry metal made in Germany into the world. Besides classics like "Heavy Metal Breakdown" or the Wacken anthem, the band is also known for their legendary Scotland trilogy. The three albums "Tunes of War", "The Clans will Rise again" and "Fields of Blood" are a tribute to Scottish history and take the listeners with them to the battlefields of the Scottish Highlands. The band around singer Chris Boltendahl and guitarist Axel "Ironfinger" Ritt inspires their fans worldwide with their epic sounds and emotional live performances. Concerts in Germany, Spain, Russia and Switzerland are planned for 2022. You can find more information on www.grave-digger-clan.de.
About St. Kilian Distillers GmbH
In recent years, St. Kilian Distillers from the Lower Franconian town of Rüdenau near Miltenberg am Main has regularly demonstrated that premium whiskey does not necessarily only have to come from Scotland, Ireland or Japan. In the meantime, numerous gold medals have been awarded to Germany's largest whisky distillery at the most prestigious whisky competitions around the globe. In addition, awards such as "Distillery of the Year" and "Whisky of the Year" testify to the top international level at which the distillery, which was only founded in 2012 by the investment banker Andreas Thümmler and is therefore still young, is now operating with its whiskies. St. Kilian Distillers supports the responsible use of alcohol, about which you can read more at www.massvoll-geniessen.de for more information. For more information on the company and portfolio, visit stkdev.lichtschreiber.de.