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The 1989 Velvet Revolution toppled the regime and the Czech whisky also vanished from sight as the market was flooded by whiskies from all over the world. Then whisky ceased to be made for good. What left had time to mature in the original oak barrels for years to improve gradually into its current level of excellence. The liquor company that the distillery belonged to, Stock Plzen-Bozkov, was privatized. The new owners felt the drink had no future. They sold some 250 barrels for a ridiculously low price
-- "barbarism," recalled Sitner. In 2007, U.S. hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management acquired the company. When officials from London-based Stock Spirits Group that controls the company for the fund were presented the local whisky, their first response was "impossible it was made here," Sitner remembered. After it passed a test in a tasting with some other single malt whiskies that followed, the company decided to put it on the market. "Look at the gold," Sitner said with pride during a recent visit to Pradlo cellar where hundreds the original oak barrels are still in place. "It's a beautiful color," he said, holding a glass just taken from a barrel. Demand for Hammer Head has been solid around the globe, but Sitner would not reveal how much was made and how much is still available. He would only said if the current sales remain at the same level of 10,000
-- 15,000 bottles a year, it is expected to be sold out in five to seven years. The whisky sells for about
euro45 ($59) a bottle. Since 2011, Hammer Head has been listed in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible, an annual international whisky guide, where it scored 88.5 points out of 100
-- putting it among "very good to excellent whiskies definitely worth buying." "This is one of Europe's maltiest drams ... if not the maltiest," the guide said. In 2011, it won a Masters award at the 2011 Whiskeys of the World Masters. Petr Nemy, an organizer of whisky tastings from the Scottish Club in Prague said that after more than 20 years of aging, Hammer Head "is beautifully matured. It's delicately malty and smoky with a taste of nuts and maybe, vanilla. It has a beautifully rounded taste. It's a joy to taste it."
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