I don’t know why, but I struggled to prepare this post… My tasting notes from a virtual tasting evening with our European chapter of the Whisky Ladies of Mumbai were weak. So it took sitting down for a solo tasting to tease out a bit more. If some of the impressions seem contradictory, this would be why!
First off – we are no strangers to Sweden’s Mackmyra distillery offerings.We’ve quite enjoyed a few over the years… and been disappointed too.
And now, without further ado… here is what we discovered!
Mackmyra 12 years 50.2% 278 bottles
- Nose – Clean and fresh, cherry wood, sweet honey, one dimensional, caraway seed
- Palate – Cork or wood, juniper?
- Finish – Bitter cinnamon bark
- Water – We had a bit of a debate on this – some thought it nicer with water, others thought it killed its character
- Return – We set it aside and returned after some time… it opened up to reveal some lightly floral notes and balsam wood
Well this was a curious one… certainly not complex or flamboyant. Above all, it needed time to open up.
Did we like it? Let’s say there was a mixed response. In particular our Swedish lady was… underwhelmed by this Mackmyra.
And yet, when I came back to it a few weeks later, I found there was an inviting ‘freshness’ to its approach – clean, straight forward and quite pleasant. I found a subtle citrus fruitiness – more grapefruit than orange. With water, I also discovered tasty baked goods – more like lemon curd wickeltorte or poppyseed grapefruit gugelhupf.
It is distinctly different and while it wouldn’t be the 1st dram I would gravitate to relax and unwind, it was utterly delightful one evening when I came in from a brisk chilly walk. Clearly that is the right context for quite a cheerful dram.
What does David have to say?
My first foray into the world of whisky outside of Scotland is a rare chance to try a non-finished single cask from Sweden’s Mackmyra distillery.
The nose is super-clean and foresty (very Scandi!), with rye, caraway, lemon sponge and hints of apricot. The palate continues the theme with gingerbread, spiced cookies, juniper and a zingy orange/grapefruit fruitiness in the finish. Really interesting stuff, and a profile quite unlike any Scotch.
This bourbon barrel was fully matured in an abandoned mine under the Swedish forest.
I purchased this whisky directly from the Chorlton website for £70 plus shipping.
Here is are the other two in this Chorlton trio:
- Miltonduff 11 years, 1st fill bourbon, 62% 1 of 176 bottles
- Blair Athol 12 years, Hogshead undiluted, uncoloured, unchill filtered, 56.6% 1 of 268 bottles
As for other brushes with Mackmyra? There have been many! With nearly all sampled together with our Swedish Whisky Lady:
- Mackmyra 3 Year Bachair Private Cask
- Mackmyra 3 Year Preludium 01 De Första Dropparna 55.6%
- Mackmyra 3 year, Batch 1, 47.2% (TBWC)
- Mackmyra 8 Year Dram Good Whisky
- Mackmyra Äppelblom 46.1%
- Mackmyra Mack 40%
- Mackmyra Svensk Rok 46.1%
- Mackmyra Vinterdröm 46.1%
- Mackmyra Vinterglöd 46.1%
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