Region & History

On July 1, 1999, whisky legally flowed from a still in Switzerland for the first time in decades. Until that day, distilling grain and potatoes was punishable by law, since both were classified as staple foods. The Alcohol Act of 1932 had tightened this protection out of concern for supply during years of war and scarcity. Only a complete legal overhaul lifted the ban and opened the market to spirits made from grain.

Those who had been waiting got started immediately. In Lauwil in the canton of Baselland, the Bader Distillery began operating that very day, producing Hollen, the very first Swiss whisky. In Elfingen in the Fricktal, Ruedi Käser founded Whisky Castle, named after a former parsonage dating back to the eighth century, which locals mockingly called a "castle" because of a tithe-demanding pastor. Brewmaster Karl Locher in Appenzell also began distilling in 1999, three years before his Säntis Malt went on sale.

Many of the first distillers came from brewing, not farming. Locher had run a brewery in Appenzell since 1886 and already owned mash kettles, malt, and casks by the time the law fell. In Aarwangen, the Baumberger family's distillery had stood since 1857 in a granary built in 1616, originally constructed to store grain and now converted into the Langatun Distillery. The knowledge of malting was already there — only distilling had been forbidden until then.

From this starting point, a whole scene grew within just a few years. Langatun became the country's largest whisky distillery, with a growing fan base reaching far beyond the Oberaargau region. Other producers followed in the mountain cantons, where breweries and farms repurposed their old kettles for this new use. Today the ban is little more than a footnote, but it explains why the scene remains so young and why it stays so closely tied to brewing.