Origin: Sweden
Type: Single Malt Swedish Whisky
Strength: 43.7%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Wine, ex-Rum and new
Chillfiltered: No
Additional Coloring: No
Owner: Mackmyra Svensk Whisky
Average Price: € 85.00
Official website: mackmyra.com
Vote: 83/100
Limited edition of 3,017 bottles for this bottling released in the first half of 2023, which sees the ageing in very particular casks, in line with the use of local products that the distillery (from the beginning of 2022 under the guidance of Lii Johnson as Master Blender) has always applied to its whiskies.
The blending of casks is very complex, the result of a delicate balance sought between the influences of highly charged wines. At the base, a 2012 distillate aged for ten years in ex-raspberry wine casks, 70 per cent of which was then finished in ex-rum casks, with the addition of 7 per cent of casks matured with cloudberry wine. To balance this, 21% American new wood casks were added. The ex-wine casks have had a huge loss over time, so much so that the ABV is in fact cask strength. Headache-inducing.
The name is a tribute to the national park where the red fruits that form the basis of the wines used for ageing grow luxuriantly, a park much loved by Johnson.
Tasting notes
Inevitably, it’s red fruits that drive the aromas on the nose, albeit in a less bursting and overwhelming way than expected. Raspberries, blackberries and sour black cherries (between jam and yoghurt) intertwine with spicy notes of bright nutmeg with veils of chocolate and malt. In the background, caramel and wet wood with a slight hint of sugar paste.
The palate has a good spicy thrust, of black pepper and nutmeg, accompanying a discreet creaminess on rather bitter and vegetal tones, where the red fruit part seems to have been somewhat lost, pushed to the rear to act as a counterpoint rather than a protagonist. Tones of caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, candied orange and a hint of salt dominate, with balsamic veins.
Not very long finish of red fruits, caramel, candied citrus, balsamic notes and wood.
More attractive and interesting to the nose than it then offers to the drinking, where the assemblage of casks seems to have sacrificed personality on the altar of balance. An experiment not entirely successful but one that deserves to be continued because it could yield truly excellent results.