Mackmyra Swedish Whisky
Mackmyra Swedish Single Malt Whisky
The First Single Malt Whisky Distillery in Sweden.
The Mackmyra distillery is located in the beautiful Mackmyra Bruk mill in Gästrikland.
When the distillery opened for business in 1999 it was the only whisky distillery in Sweden, and also the most northerly in the world.
The whisky distillery started as a very small-scale business, using a copper boiler with a capacity of only 100 litres. This was a pilot distillery so the team at Mackmyra could develop their recipes. And at the same time prove to the outside world that it is possible to create an excellent malt whisky using the ingredients and under the conditions that they have in Sweden.
# = photo by Johan Olsson
The pilot distillery - where it all began
On 18 December 1999 all the permits were in place, and the Mackmyra Team were able to distil the very first drops of what was to be their Swedish malt whisky. At that time they used a small copper boiler, designed and welded together in house. The boiler had a capacity of 100 litres, and once they had taken out the middle cut there were 30 litres left to mature in oak casks. This was when they hit upon the idea of the small casks.
Initially this was more of a practical consideration, so that they could change the parameters and experiment with every run and still be able to fill a whole cask with some kind of crude whisky for evaluation further down the line. They soon realised that the small casks also meant quicker maturation – the thirty-litre cask was here to stay!
Today the company sells lots of the 30-litre casks to individual customers, and part of the appeal is that they can come and visit on a regular basis in one of the four different regional warehouses.
After many years of testing and evaluation at the pilot distillery, They decided what they wanted a Swedish whisky to be like and are really satisfied with not just one, but two whisky recipes. One is fruity and elegant, while the other has a harsher, smoky flavour. Of course they also use Swedish ingredients for the smoking process, including juniper twigs and bog moss peat from the local area.
The pilot distillery has now been replaced by a much bigger plant. The old copper boilers can now be found on Fjäderholmarna in the inner Stockholm archipelago, open to the general public in their Swedish Malt Whisky exhibition. Why not pay them a visit?
# = photo by Johan Olsson
In spring 2002 they installed new equipment so that they could produce larger volumes. Now the distillery operates almost every day, sometimes in two shifts. However they remain pleasantly small-scale compared to the larger foreign distilleries, with an emphasis on craftsmanship. Just the way they like it.
# = photo by Johan Olsson
The Mackmyra Team create their malt whisky using selected Swedish ingredients and with no additives whatsoever.
Mackmyra is in Valbo, just outside Gävle, about two hours north of Stockholm and Arlanda Airport.
Mackmyra Swedish Whisky bottlings:
Preludium:01, 02, 03, 04, All Sold Out
Preludium:05, 06 Can still be found.
Privus is a very limited range, 1000 bottles of each, sold in Sweden 2007.
Privus:01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06
The 1st Edition is their first bottling in larger volumes, and will be avaliable in the comming years
Special:01 was a new limited bottling. Released in Sweden Dec -08 8000 bottles sold out in one day.
Will hopefully be avaliable in UK during spring. And will be followed by Special:02 Q2 -09
Tasting Notes For Mackmyra Swedish Whisky 1st Edition
Mackmyra Distillery
Bruksgatan 4
818 32 Valbo
Sweden
Tel.: +46 26 54 18 80
Small casks, Swedish oak and storage in Bodås mine
Much of the whisky in The 1st Edition has been stored in 100-litre casks, which produces an exciting, powerful ageing process. We have also used newly manufactured Swedish oak casks, made using oak that was planted on the island of Visingsö 160 years ago and intended for use in building warships for the Swedish navy. The base is our Elegant recipe, stored in bourbon casks of first fill quality. All stored in the Bodås mine, 50 metres down inside the primary rock.
Citrus, caramel and honey
The colour is light yellow, with hints of amber. The nose is fruity with citrus, pear, apple, honey, light oak with hints of lightly toasted bread and fresh, buttery caramel. The flavour is fruity and subtle, with citrus, caramel and honey. A light hint of oak can be noted at the end. The aftertaste is well-adjusted and balanced, with hints of dark chocolate. For optimal flavour, the alcohol strength has been adjusted to 46.1% using naturally purified water from the Valbo Ridge.
The 1st Edition was released in Sweden June 2nd 2008 and in the rest of Europe later that year.
Images Kindly supplied by the Mackmyra Distillery
Images marked # =photo by Johan Olsson
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