When and how was the distillery founded?
Gammelstilla Whisky AB was founded in 2005 by 10 people.
We were looking for an ideal location and we found Gammelstilla, which worked perfectly as both a location and a name for the whiskey.
When the idea of producing whisky in Gammelstilla took off, we thought it would be in the beautiful brick warehouse located on the shore of ”Nedre Dammen.” But it turned out that it had been used for seed treatment, which is why the floors contain mercury.
The cleanup wouldn't be a problem – but the costs would be! Then everything stopped for a period, but the dream of making your own whiskey was strong.
We continued searching in Gammelstilla and found another warehouse,
Vita Magasinet and the plans could gain new momentum.
From the first 10 shareholders, we now have approximately 400 shareholders.
We have 8 members on the board and a CEO who works actively. In addition, we have a number of shareholders who get involved and help when needed. We also have a lot of good help and support from the residents of the village and also Lena Holmstedt who runs the Café in Gammelstilla.
Slowly but surely we have built up the company and acquired the equipment we need to be able to produce whisky. The boilers have a volume of 600 liters on the mash boiler and 300 liters on the spirit boiler. Today we are at about 8 thousand liters of cask acid per year, which is stored in 30 to 200-liter barrels. We are focusing, at first, on an unsmoked whisky to bring out the flavor notes. Later, both smokier and fruitier variants may be relevant.
The distillery was inaugurated on 2012-04-28 by County Governor Barbro Holmgren. By that date, we had produced our first raw spirit. We have since tested our progress and now have the process we have in mind for pilot production. We have currently stored about 8,000 liters in various barrels. November 1, 2015, our oldest distillate will be 3 years old, so then we will have WHISKY. We also sell 30-liter barrels to private individuals.
What makes your whisky special?
What is most special are our boilers.
All other Swedish distilleries bought their copper boilers in Scotland, but we at Gammelstilla only traveled 25 kilometers, to Bäckströms Mekaniska in Hofors. Over the years, Bäckströms has received the most diverse assignments and has worked a lot with copper sheet, but this was the most unusual so far. Our boilers had to be specially designed, otherwise they would never fit through the distillery's small doors, and then it was easier to get help from close quarters. You might think that it would have been easier to make larger door holes, but since the "White Warehouse" is a slag stone building from the 18th century, it had to retain its original appearance. The white warehouse now houses the entire production facility with malt mill, mash vats, fermenters, copper boilers and storage for the oak barrels.
Location: Ardbeg Embassy Västerlånggatan 68
Price: 595 SEK including a main course after the tasting.
Registration: chabbe@ardbegembassy.se
Payment is made via Swish to 123 331 8821 after confirmed place.
We will try 7 different whiskeys!
