Favourite Whiskies from Ben and Horst Lüning

We'll let the senior man have the first word. He has been involved with whisky for more than three decades. At first there was a lot of theory and imparting whisky knowledge to our customers. Then came the practice and the tasting of Whiskies. His first whisky video in 2007 with Lagavulin was the breakthrough. But it wasn't until three years later that he began regularly tasting whiskies on camera.

And in 2023, the question arose: which are his favourite Whiskies? He finally decided on Lagavulin 16 year old, the Whisky he made his first video about. He also likes Edradour Caledonia 12 year old and Aberlour 16 year old Double Cask. All three are great for him!

The junior and current managing director quickly followed in his father's footsteps and from 2015 tasted whiskies together with Horst Lüning and also on his own. And in 2023, he also asked himself what his favourite Whiskies were. For him, it's Elijah Craig 12-year-old - he prefers the 18-year-old, but it's hard to get hold of. He also opted for the 21-year-old Bushmills from Ireland and the 15-year-old Bowmore from the island of Islay.

We are often asked about Ben and Horst Lüning's favourite Whiskies. "Mr Lüning, what is your favourite Whisky... but not so expensive, please?"

Horst loves good, complex cask matured Whiskies, preferably with a certain age. One of his favourites and a very important Whisky for him is the Balvenie Double Wood 12J. The distillery invented the finishing process at the same time as another distillery in the last century. All the following whiskies are equally popular with him. The vintage bottlings from Glenfarclas are something very special. From Arran, he appreciates the finish series, especially the Port Cask Finish, Arran does a good job here. The Aberlour distillery has developed positively in recent years and he really likes the 12-year-old, non-chill-filtered with 48% alcohol content, which was stored in sherry casks. After a difficult phase, Glendronach is now producing remarkable Whisky. Mr Lüning particularly likes the 12-year-old, which is matured in Pedro Ximénez casks. Overall, he likes the non-peated Whiskies better, but the peated ones are also among his favourites, even if most of them are more expensive. At a good price, he likes the Talisker Port Ruighe, which is matured in port casks and comes from the Isle of Skye.

Horst loves sophisticated, good cask maturation, preferably with a certain age.

• Balvenie Double Wood 12 years
• Glenfarclas Vintage
• Arran Port Cask Finish
• Aberlour 12 year old sherry cask
• Glendronach 12 year old Pedro Ximénez
• Talisker Port Ruighe

There is no other smoky whisky included, as all the others are more expensive than 45 euros.

Ben's selection is a colourful mix! He loves complexity and extremes! These are often very expensive Whiskies. The first he mentions is the Lagavulin 16 year old with its smoky ham flavour, which reminds him of a spicy, well-cured Italian ham. Another favourite Whisky is the Elijah Craig, an old, intense, spicy and sweet bourbon that is unfortunately all too rare. He particularly likes two candidates from the Bruichladdich distillery on the island of Islay. One is the very old and full-bodied, but also expensive Black Art and the other is the very smoky Octomore. Another favourite goes in a different direction. It's the Jack Daniel's No. 27 Gold - for Ben it's THE typical American Tennessee Whiskey! For him, it has a wonderfully smooth, sweet flavour that only the Woodford Reserve comes close to.

Ben likes it varied!

• Lagavulin 16J
• Elijah Craig
• Bruichladdich Octomore
• Bruichladdich Black Art
• Jack Daniel's No. 27 Gold
• Woodford Reserve

Ben and Horst Lüning were very unanimous in their choice of six whiskies for the 30th anniversary. Each of them could have chosen the other's Whiskies. As far as their favourite Whiskies are concerned, the two have very different preferences.