Puni is a whisky distillery near Glorenza, in Italy's Venosta valley, which the Ebensperger family founded in 2010 and named after the river Puni.1,2,3 The founder's son, Tobias Ebensperger, now runs the company.1,2,3
Founder Albrecht Ebensperger, a master builder, went from whisky collector to whisky maker.3,4,5 He and his son Jonas spent over two years testing malts on a tiny still, and the family began planning the distillery in 2009.3,4,5
Apple cake, lemon juice and porridge lead to a consistent finish, with a slight dry Grillo character; overall, it is really rather good.
Architect Werner Tscholl designed its 13 by 13 metre cube, whose brick shell is inspired by the region's barn windows, and production takes place underground beneath it.1,5,6 After two years of building, the team first heated the wash still, one of two copper pot stills from Forsyths of Rothes, on 24 February 2012.1,5,6
Puni first mashed malted barley, wheat and rye, and its wheat and rye came from nearby, including an old variety of rye.3,6,7 Since 2016 it has refined its recipe and today mainly uses pure barley malt.1,6,7 Most of its barley malt comes from Italy, and it imports peated malt from Great Britain for its peated whiskies.6
Its water comes from the nearby Stelvio National Park.2,5 It has 5 washbacks, the tanks where fermenting happens, each holding 10,000 litres.6 They were built from local larch by the last cooperage in South Tyrol.4,6 Wort, the sugary water from the mash, ferments for up to 96 hours, which the distillery says lets lactic acid bacteria add light, fruity notes.6 Instead of steam, it heats both stills with overheated water, which works like a water bath and lets it control temperatures very precisely.4,5,6 In 2013, the family said it distilled the wash, the fermented beer, twice in its Scottish copper stills.4 The distillery says warm summers and cold winters speed up ageing in its warehouses.4,6,7 The family told FOUR that part of its whisky aged in disused WWII military bunkers, and The Spirits Business described one beneath the cube with four-metre walls.4,6,7
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