Two stills made of gleaming copper and chrome steel stand in the former cheese dairy. The 1904 building is the heart of the Macardo Swiss Distillery in Strohwilen. Renovated with great attention to detail and supplemented with a spectacular new building, the distillery and barrel warehouse were opened last Tuesday. This week follows the inauguration of the Honesty Bar with Cigar Lounge, the sales store as well as the ten guest rooms and two spacious apartments.

Passion burner

The owners and builders of Macardo are Martina and Andreas Bössow. She graduated from the Lausanne Hotel Management School, he is a geomatics engineer and business economist with a soft spot for distillates. "Again and again I attended distilling courses in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol," says Andreas Bössow, who built up a trading company in Dubai and supported start-ups. Martina Bössow, as co-owner, looks after the finances and marketing of the trading company, the Macardo distillery and the fish farm on the Bechtel. "When we were offered the distillery in Thurgau in 2015, we didn't hesitate for long," adds Andreas Bössow.

Tradition and the latest technology 

With the takeover of the Macardo Distillery, founded in 2007, the Bössows engaged the Vorarlberg master distiller Bartholomäus Fink. Whisky was joined by spirits such as gin and vodka, the Vieilles, barrel-aged fine brandies made from Thurgau fruit, and marc distillates. Thurgau bourbon, or Thurbon for short, for example, is made from Swiss rye, barley and more than 51 percent corn. It is one of the first bourbons distilled outside the USA. Like its model from Tennessee, Thurbon - the naming is a longer story - matures for several years in barrels made of American white oak. That's where the imposing barrel warehouse comes into play. Although it smells more like concrete than wood and whiskey, it offers plenty of room for emotion. Not all of the storage spaces are filled with barrels by a long shot. There are to be 450 of them one day. Each one is equipped with a sensor that registers the "Angels' Share," the unavoidable loss of evaporation during wooden barrel aging. Sensor technology and the adaptation of the microclimate around the barrel are intended to keep this as small as possible. The counterpart to the "Angels' Share" is the "Devil's Cut". This refers to the amount of distillate that remains in the walls of a wooden cask when it is emptied. Thus, a Laphroaig cask was enough to give the "Slightly Smoky" Macardo whisky a smoky note.

Homey moments of pleasure

Guests of the house can taste all Macardo distillates in the Honesty Bar. It is not served. As at home, each guest can help himself. Payment is made on a basis of trust. If you want to take advantage of this offer, it is best to book a room in the Macardo Premium B & B. The rooms offer all the comforts and, the next morning, a fascinating view of the Alpstein, the Säntis and a rich breakfast.

Author: Gabriel Tinguely

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