Astrid Bach, explaining the different whiskies in specialist whiskey importer Peter Siegenthaler’s shop, Cadenhead’s in Baden, Switzerland. William Cadenhead Ltd, established in 1842 is Scotland’s oldest independent bottler, the joy of which is that one can bring home a Cadenhead’s right here from the heart of the historic town of Baden.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro, Sweden 2015
In the heart of the old town of Baden, Switzerland, in a corner of Mittleren Gasse, the rich variations of bottled liquid amber reflecting in the sunlight through the glass window display caught my eye. I had in the past few days, tried to visit this shop that seemed to close minutes before I stepped by in the evenings. So I was more than delighted that on this day, I could swing open the door and step into Cadenhead’s.
It was Astrid Bach who greeted me as I stepped in through the door. I took a long sweeping look around the shop. Delighted at what I saw, I turned to her and asked, “Do you have Eiswein?”
My question was greeted with a polite perplexed look on her face. The reason for her perplexity as I found out later was that the shop that belonged to Peter Siegenthaler, the sole importer for Cadenhead Scottish distilled whiskies into Switzerland, sold “alles ausser Wein”. I looked at Astrid in brief pause, smiled and said, “I guess I’m here to buy a whiskey.” And so began an early evening adventure on the different types of Cadenhead whiskies.
Along Mittlere Gasse, Baden, located at the base of a steep upslope of cobbled streets in a very romantic quarter of the town is Cadenhead’s.
For the whiskey tasting.
Cadenhead’s in Baden carry limited edition whiskies, and a selection of wine cask whiskies. To the right, a claret wine cask Cadenhead whiskey, with a production batch of about 170 bottles.
Chairman Stock whiskey to the left, and in the middle, a 31 years whiskey from a closed distillery.
A 35 year old, American oak matured, Orkney malt distilled at the Highland Park distillery in 1967. This bottle, belonging to Peter Siegenthaler’s personal collection of whiskies is one of only 722 bottles.
Also in the prized collection is this Lowland malt, selected by Signatory Vintage as part of its Rare Reserve releases. It was distilled on the 4th March 1975 and laid to rest for 9,638 days before being bottled. This is bottle number 125 of just 163.
An incredibly rare Macallan 25 year old anniversary malt.
I ended the evening’s visit with plenty of new insights into the favourites of Cadenhead’s. The overall philosophy being that in life, no matter the day, there is always time for that whiskey.