Top 10 Distilleries in Denmark
Denmark's craft distilling story is short, intense, and unusually prominent for a small Nordic country. The lifting of regulatory barriers in the 2000s, combined with the strong Danish food-and-drink culture epitomised by the New Nordic movement, has supported a generation of distillers who use Danish grain, water, and a strong design sensibility to build a national category. Carlsberg's brewing pedigree gave Danish distillers a deep talent pool of malting and fermentation expertise. The ten distilleries below can be found on the map.
1. Stauning Whisky, Stauning
Stauning Whisky, founded 2005 in the Jutland village of Stauning by a group of nine friends, is Denmark's pioneer single malt distillery. The brand uses floor-malted Danish barley and Danish-grown rye and has won wide international recognition. The 2020 capacity expansion, backed by Diageo's Distill Ventures, made Stauning the most internationally distributed Danish whisky.
2. Copenhagen Distillery, Copenhagen
Copenhagen Distillery, in the Refshaleøen district of Copenhagen, produces gin, single malt whisky, and a wide array of experimental spirits including a Single Estate Single Cask programme using grain from a single Danish farm. The distillery is a centre of the New Nordic spirits movement.
3. Trolden Distillery, Kolding
Trolden Distillery in Kolding, southern Jutland, produces single malt whisky aged in Danish oak and various small-batch experimental editions. The brand has developed a reputation for unusual cask finishes and limited bottlings sought by collectors.
4. Mosgaard Distillery, Oure
Mosgaard Distillery on the island of Funen produces organic single malt whisky and an organic gin range. The fully organic certification — uncommon in the spirits industry — has been a defining differentiator.
5. Nyborg Distillery, Nyborg
Nyborg Distillery, located in a historic shipyard in the town of Nyborg, produces single malt whisky, rum, and gin. The Nyborg "Isle of Fionia" single malt was Denmark's first internationally awarded malt.
6. Braunstein Distillery, Køge
Braunstein Distillery in Køge, just south of Copenhagen, has been distilling single malt whisky since 2007 — alongside its primary craft brewery operation. The Library Collection of single-cask Braunstein bottlings is among the most sought-after Danish whisky.
7. Empirical Spirits, Copenhagen
Empirical Spirits, founded by alumni of Noma, is one of the most internationally celebrated Danish distilleries. The brand produces unclassifiable spirits — neither gin, nor vodka, nor whisky — using koji fermentation, novel grains, and the kind of culinary creativity that emerged from Copenhagen's New Nordic restaurant scene.
8. Njord Gin, Copenhagen
Njord Gin produces small-batch gins built around specific Nordic botanicals — sea buckthorn, juniper, blackcurrant — sourced from particular Danish landscapes. Each batch represents a specific Danish terroir interpretation.
9. Thy Whisky, Fjerritslev
Thy Whisky, in the rural Thy region of northern Jutland, produces single malt whisky from grain grown on the founders' family farm — a true single-estate distillery. The distillery's small annual output and farm-to-bottle approach are unusual even in the craft sector.
10. Skotlander, Copenhagen
Skotlander, founded by a Scottish distiller who emigrated to Denmark, produces gin, rum, and aquavit in Copenhagen. The brand's name (Scottish-Lander) is a deliberate play on the cross-cultural distilling story.
A small but disproportionate scene
Denmark has a population of less than six million but punches above its weight in international craft spirits awards. The combination of strong design culture, restaurant-driven gastronomy, Carlsberg's malting and fermentation legacy, and the Danish craft drinks ecosystem has produced a national distilling identity in less than two decades. The map shows the spread.