Diageo pours £10m into Danish whisky

Diageo is investing over £10 million into Danish whisky brand Stauning, it announced on Saturday.

Stauning Young Rye (Photo: Stauning)

The funding will allow Stauning to produce 50 times the 15,000 litres it currently produces per year.

Stauning was started by nine people in 2005, and is now increasing its number of stills from four to 20.

Alex Munch, Stauning’s co-founder, said: “We can’t wait to build the distillery of our dreams and are excited to be making more of the whisky we love and sharing it with the world.”

The money comes from Distill Ventures, the Diageo-backed and funded investment programme for entrepreneurs launching and scaling spirits brands.

“Our focus is on helping entrepreneurs to realise their vision,” said Frank Lampen, co-founder of Distill Ventures.

“We are delighted to be working with Stauning, as they scale their business and take their great whiskies beyond Denmark.”

Stauning Whisky started as a hobby between nine friends just over ten years ago.

Since then it has won numerous awards, including Best European Single Malt (under 12 years old) and Best European Rye (under 7 years) at the 2014 World Whisky Awards.

David Gates, Diageo’s global head of premium core spirits, said: “In Stauning, I believe we have found a company defined by visionary founders and an exceptional whisky, with a brilliant story to tell.”

Mr Gates will sit on the board of Stauning but the founders will retain a majority shareholding and continue to run the business independently.

Half-litre bottles of Stauning Young Rye currently sell for £47.