Swedish whisky, from dream to reality at Mackmyra
Nearly two decades ago a group of young Swedes decided that making excellent whisky might be possible, even for people with no claim to Scottish ancestry – if they had enough dedication and passion, and were willing to learn the trade. They decided to give it a shot.
After all, the Scots hardly had a monopoly, as any lover of Irish whiskey or Kentucky bourbon can attest to. But more recently nations such as Germany, France, Switzerland and even Brazil had joined the whisky fray. And Japan has been a whisky producer for decades.
Why not Sweden?
Could the Mackmyra distillery north of Stockholm do for whisky what ABBA did for music and what Björn Borg did for tennis? Could the Swedish recipe for success work again?
“Mackmyra is about combining tradition with innovation,” said Mikael Mossvall at Mackmyra. “We want to make the world’s best whisky, based on our local conditions and ingredients in Sweden.”
The whisky saga at Mackmyra
The Mackmyra saga started with a group of four couples who were all in their 30s, all of whom had studied engineering together in Stockholm. They would get together once a year for the holidays. In 1998, on a skiing get-together, it turned out that all of them had brought a bottle of their favourite whisky – unbeknownst to the others.
“what would it take to create a swedish whisky?”
This got the creative juices and the conversation going. What would it take to create a Swedish whisky?
The analytical minds soon started working on the project, and together they made a pact. They would all spread out during the next year, each visiting distilleries in different countries with long whisky traditions, where they would seek advice from experts. They would reconvene in a year and start making plans for a small distillery.
There were some conditions that had to be met though. The first was that if the project was not up and running within three years it would be abandoned. The second was that nobody would have to give up their full time jobs.
Mackmyra distillery near Gävle
In 1999, they managed to find a location for the new distillery, the idyllic Mackmyra Bruk, near Gävle, and hour’s drive north of Stockholm. Mackmyra Svensk Whisky was born.
The initial stroke of genius the new company had was to start as a membership club. Members can buy their very own 30 liter cask of whisky – and they get to choose between 12 different combinations of ingredients. They follow their own personal whisky, attending events where they can taste the contents. They are invited to attend when the small oak casks are filled, sealed and stored in a disused mine nearby. And when the whisky is ready for consumption, members get to participate in the bottling of their whisky.
In addition members were drawn upon as a resource, as their feedback was important for the whiskies that would be released for sale commercially. The annual membership events were fun, and became very popular.
The concept brought in enough memberships from the beginning that the fledgling Mackmyra had enough funds to invest in proper copper stills from Scotland after only a short time (the first ‘primitive’ Mackmyra copper still was designed and manufactured by the engineers themselves.)
“The peat used is local Swedish peat, collected just one kilometre from Mackmyra.”
The rest is history. After releasing the limited edition ‘Preludium’ series (all six were sold out during the first day of sale at the Swedish Systembolag monopoly), Mackmyra is now sold continuously, not only at Systembolaget, but also at duty free shops at airports, including Oslo Airport.
Today Mackmyra is steadily gaining acclaim. Whisky Magazine has awarded Mackmyra Whisky a World Whisky Award as the World’s Best Other Single Malt Whisky, meaning the best single malt produced outside of the large whisky-producing nations.
Distinctly Swedish whisky flavors
The people behind Mackmyra have been intent from the beginning that there would be something distinctly Swedish about the whisky – therefore they use juniper twigs as a flavour when peating the barley. The small virgin oak casks from Sweden also give a distinct flavour to the whisky. The peat used is local Swedish peat, collected just one kilometre from Mackmyra.
“It appeals to the Nordic palette especially,” said Mossvall.
Today Mackmyra is expanding, due its success. Even the critics have given the thumbs ups. “A fun whisky with a playful personality. More please!” wrote John Hansell at Maltadvocate about Mackmyra Whisky.
But genuine whisky lovers never let the critics make up their minds.
