Pioneering Spirits

On the surface, the "Tobacco Center" in Berlin's Kreuzberg district merely looks like one of the city's countless corner cigarette shops. But lining its walls are rows of elegant bottles from Caol Ila, Ardbeg, Bruichladdich and Glenfarclas -- single-malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.

The shop is the brainchild of Lars "Jack" Wiebers, an entrepreneur originally from eastern Germany who got into whisky decades ago while on a vacation in Greece and began importing it. These days, Wiebers not only brings Scottish spirits to Germany, he also buys casks from distilleries, bottles the whisky and sells it under series labels such as the Old Train Line or Cross Hill.

"The standard whiskies from the distilleries are usually made by mixing whiskies from various casks to get consistency," Wiebers said. "With an independent bottling, you often get the pure taste of a whisky from one single barrel."

Retailing for anywhere between 30 euros to 180 euros ($40 to $240), depending on the age and rarity of the spirit, Wiebers' limited-edition bottlings have proved a hit with many of Germany's young and adventurous whisky drinkers.

New spot on the map

The German market for single malts is growing by leaps and bounds. The Federal Association of the German Spirits Industry (BSI) estimates that some 24,000 hectoliters (634,013 gallons) were imported in 2005 -- up more than 44 percent from the preceding year.

That's put Germany -- traditionally a culture of beer, wine and schnapps drinkers -- on the international whisky map.

"There's a lot of swapping among the distilleries and the independent bottlers," Wiebers said. "Someone will have casks from Caol Ila and need Ardbeg and then trade a barrel of this for a barrel of that. That's how whisky makes its way around the world."

BSI surveys indicate that single malt has overtaken cognac as Germany's high-class tipple of choice, and more and more people are coming to appreciate the smoky flavors from the peat-filled Scottish coastline or the mellow, sherry-matured tastes of the Highlands.

Whisky and the Web

The Internet has played a crucial role in this trend, with virtual whisky shops helping supply curious German palates.

"It's part of globalization that young people are beginning to look beyond their own horizons," said Theresia Lüning, head of The Whisky Store, one of Germany's largest whisky Web retailers. "They're Internet-oriented and more Anglophile than their parents."

The Bavarian-based Lüning began selling whisky in 1990, after a trip to Scotland, as a part-time diversion to her work as a housewife. She presently does 10 million euros in business per year, and her husband has had to quit his job to help her manage the expanding whisky emporium.

"Germany is the gateway to Eastern Europe, to wealthy people in Russia and Ukraine," Lüning said. "There are tourists who visit cities like Berlin or Munich especially to buy whisky. That's because it's available and reasonably priced."

Malts for the masses

But some experts think the whisky boom in Germany, which has been building since the 1980s, also carries dangers.

"There are huge numbers of independent bottlings, but sometimes the quality's just not there," drinks consultant Jürgen Deibel said. "And there's a bogus culture of 'prestige drinking,' where people define themselves in terms of snobbery. You need a bit of training to have a good set of taste buds."

But Deibel, who's based in Hanover and runs tasting seminars throughout Germany, is generally heartened by single-malt whisky's growing appeal.

"What's good is that whisky is reaching the masses, including lots of young people," Deibel said. "At the last tasting I hosted, the average age was clearly below 30."

And those Germans who are passionate about single malts and have helped introduce others to what is arguably the world's most complex spirit are convinced that the new generation of connoisseurs won't be losing interest any time soon.

"It's no longer a fad where people order whisky in bars because it cool or they want to do something different," said Wiebers while savoring the aromas of a cask-strength Lagavullin. "Once you've discovered whisky, you stay with it."