This is where it all started. The Gyrup estate has been in our family for eight generations, since 1773, and Gyrup is the name of the area between Nørhå and Ovesø. Gyrup is an historic farm-estate dating back to the early 1300s. Our fields are home to ten Bronze Age burial mounds - with Tobakshøj and Dåsen offering the best views for pondering life.
The estate stretches from Thy National Park on the North Sea an into the agricultural land of Thy. We have more 500 hectares of fields and meadows, where we grow organic grains for our whisky and grass for our dairy cows.
Dage vi husker
1773-2019
Around 1930
1978
2010
1996
Thy Whisky was founded on a simple idea. To create a whisky from the estate's own organic grains, from Nordic heritage varieties and Danish smoking techniques to capture the taste of the Danish soil.
Nicolaj Nicolajsen (7th generation) filled the first whisky barrel made from the estate's own barley harvest in 2010 in collaboration with Thisted Brewery and a malthouse in Germany. Sixteen experimental casks produced in the first five years form the foundation of Thy Whisky.
Our first cask of single malt was bottled in January 2014 under the name 'Thy Whisky No. 1- Kræn Klit'.
MEMORABLE DAYS
2014"Thy Whisky No. 1 - Kræn Klit" is relased in Klitmøller Redningshus
2015Christmas 2015, the family gatheres to taste the first samples
2015The first warehouse is established in the old stables
At Christmas 2015, the family gathered in Gyrup to talk about the future of the family estate. This marks the start of the transition to the 8th generation.
Ellen and Andreas, Marie and Jakob left Copenhagen to move back to Thy and put into motion the plan of a dedicated distillery and malthouse for Thy Whisky with a view to achieving 100% single estate production.
Step by step, the new barrel warehouse, brewery, malthouse and distillery were built in the various wings of the old estate. At the meantime, we invested in greater distillation capacity at Nordisk Brænderi to ramp up production right away.
In spring 2019, the new 1,000 litre pot still arrived at the farm, marking the completion of the distillery. The new Thy Whisky Distillery was formally inaugurated on 15 June 2019.
In October 2019, we received an unexpected phone call from one of the world's premiere whisky guides: Thy Whisky No. 9 - Bøg had been named the European Whisky of the Year in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2020.
Dage vi husker
2017Building our brewery in the old farmhands' quarters on the estate
2018Our first malting drum was put into use in 2018. Now we could do our own malting.
2019"Thy Whisky No. 9 - Bøg" is named Europe's Best Single Malt
The production capacity of our new distillery is approximately 50,000 litres of organic new make, which we add to our whisky warehouse every year. Since 2019, we have expanded with a visitor's centre, a new whisky warehouse and two additional malting drums.
But every day still feels like 'day one'. As if we're only just starting to realize our ideas and dreams for the estate and the distillery.
Not least to bring our unique Danish organic whisky from Thy to whisky lovers around the world.
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