Day Seventeen in the Whisky Advent Calendar
*In this series, I’m working my way through the 2015 Master of Malt Whisky Advent. I had surgery in the middle, so we’re behind on the official dates.
Mackmyra Brukswhisky. That’s one I’ve never heard of in my life. It turns out, it’s because it’s a Swedish Whisky. Master of Malt is really keeping this one interesting!
History
Named after the village it’s in, Mackmyra it was launched by a group of friends in 1999. They were in town for a ski trip, forgot to bring single malt whisky, and things basically just spiraled out of control from there.
That just goes to show you how far a man will go to guarantee access to good whisky.
They use all local ingredients. They use local pure Swedish water, Swedish barley, and Swedish peat from a local bog. They age in new American oak, and Swedish oak as well as European oak.
Hot dang. I love the culture of whisky and how great the stories are.
Tasting
This one caught me off guard because of the dramatic difference between the smell and the taste.
The smell was a bit sweet with accents of hay and a kind of earthy barn flavor. Probably the combination of the cereal notes and the peat.
But behind all of that was a note of something completely different. It took two or three rounds of tasting to land on it.
Thai peanut sauce.
I think it’s a combination of real notes of peanut flavors mixed with the sweetness of the whisky and the richness of the earthy flavors.
On the finish there’s something that lifts off in the end in an almost minty direction.
It’s complicated, and lovely. I will definitely need to track this down for the whisky room.