In 2018, German heavy rock legends, Scorpions, teamed up with top Swedish distillers Mackmyra to release their ground-breaking Rock N Roll Star Single Malt Whisky, adding a distinct and original German twist to the drink.

During a recent interview with Horst Lüning of Whisky.com, Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker revealed how his band ended up with their name on a bottle. 

"So, now, why are the Scorpions making whisky? Because when (former Motörhead drummer) Mikkey Dee came in the band, of course, we became friends and we talked about this and this and this. And I know that Motörhead had a lot of stuff like beers and rum and whisky. And Mikkey (asked), 'Why you guys don't do a whisky?'"

"Of course, we had a long history about whisky, because we used whisky in our songs — 'Catch Your Train', (for) example. And also we had whisky in our dressing room. There was always a rider, saying what do you want. Beer, whisky… And then we came to the point where we (couldn't) control it, especially when we (were) on stage. In '81, '82, we took the whisky out of the rider and put more beer in."

"When we started to get the first example, we started tasting here and there — 'This is not this. It's too strong.' And then we started talking about what can we do to make the whisky special. So we got some examples which we liked. And somehow we missed this little bit of our tradition in Germany. Then they had an idea — holding it for a few years in German old cherry. And we said yes. We got the result and we said, 'This is the way. Perfect.'"

Matured in American ex-bourbon barrels as well as former Oloroso sherry casks, but with an additional finish in German sweet cherry wine casks, the meeting between German wood-influences and Swedish whisky-craft could not have had a better end result. While maturing spirits in casks that have held sherry, port wine or madeira wine is relatively common in the world of malt whisky, the use of the German ex-sweet cherry casks is guaranteed to pique the interest of the whisky aficionados. The added cherry sweetness to the character complements the vanilla of the ex-bourbon casks and the nutty buttery flavours of the sherry casks beautifully.