Review 244. Northern delights (part 1): why we really need Mackmyra back

Around  this time last year it was announced that Mackmyra filed for bankruptcy. Although many of us who take an interest into what happens in the wide world of whisky did foresee stormy clouds gathering over the  continuously growing glass whisky loch, anticipating quite a few distilleries and indie bottlers might be facing substantial financial problems, I have to say that I, and possibly many people with me, didn’t see that once coming. Then again, perhaps the signs were there and I just didn’t recognize them.

Prior to their bankruptcy it seemed Mackmyra was going all-in on establishing themselves in the British whisky market, which in hindsight could  perhaps be seen as a case of opening a large stand with the words ‘sand for sale’ right at the edge of the Sahara desert? Whatever the cause(s), I really hope this isn’t the end for Sweden’s oldest whisky distillery. They were arguably one of the first amongst European whisky producers who managed to make a name for themselves with quality products. Not by trying to copy-paste what the Scots or Irish were already doing, but by starting with a familiar product and then take it into different directions.  And they did so not by merely adding a bit of  nice looking (or rather: nice tasting) wallpaper, ‘seasoning’ what is essentially a familiar product with a bit of locality, but by  fundamentally and quintessentially  making it  something Swedish. If that doesn’t really make sense, please read on as I explain a few things in the Final thoughts bit of the review.

If I’m being honest, I’m by no means the biggest Mackmyra fan out there, but I do think that what they’ve been doing was important, for several reasons. Firstly, they helped pave the way for other European distilleries, proving that it is indeed possible to make good quality whisky outside of Ireland or Scotland. They deserve a ton of credit for that in my book. Secondly (and I feel this is at least of equal importance), they helped put up a mirror for the Scotch whisky industry. I’m sure they didn’t mean it as such, but by respecting traditions and recognising what whisky is and should be while at the same time also, and very much so,  deliberately not playing by the rules and regulations of the Scotch industry, particularly when it comes to the casks they often used, they did ask some rather pertinent questions as to what flies and what doesn’t. Tradition is great and needs to be honoured and respected, but also there’s a few things to be said about leaving enough leeway for innovating and experimenting. I feel Mackmyra at the very least understood that, while many in the Scotch whisky industry, not in the least the SWA, tend to approach it like a dilemma and a conundrum, essentially choosing to go with a ‘you-can’t-have-it- both-ways’  kind of attitude. Which I think is a pity.

So to honour that legacy and to remember the loss of what sure was an interesting distillery, I’ll be doing another series. The next couple of weeks I’ll be discussing several Scandinavian distilleries to see where we are when talking about Scadinavian whisky. And of course, we need to kick off the series by discussing a release from ‘the Daddy’.

Mackmyra Moment Efva. 3 yo (2018 – 2021) Swedish single malt whisky. Matured in bourbon barrels, birch wine cask and oloroso casks. NC, UCF, 46.3% ABV. 4111 bottles, app. £90-£95 / €110 - €120

The ‘Moments’ series was created as far back as 2011, meant to be released as limited, somewhat special bottlings. For this Efva expression, they collaborated with Swedish jewellery designer Efva Attling, who selected the casks for this release and also designed the bottle stopper. It’s a vatting of 19 casks, a mixture of Oloroso casks and bourbon barrels. The catch being that some of these previously also contained birch wine, which, you guessed it, is a wine made from the sap from birch trees…

Nose

Green – sappy/woody with some menthol notes and underneath a ‘current’ of the oloroso casks with berries and sweet and sour forest fruit notes. Overall it’s a fresh, crisp and clean, youthful, bittersweet and fruity spirit where a woody element plays its part. The combo really works and it’s pleasant.

Palate

That same crisp and clear arrival. The fruit sticks its head out, only to be swiftly overtaken by those green wood - sappy notes. Definitely spirit driven, but it has enough to offer in the flavour department to make things interesting. Nothing really complex, and while I wouldn’t call it a ‘layered’ whisky as such, it’s quite interesting to taste how the flavours sort of flow into each other.

Finish

Pleasant woody and vegetal bitterness with a whiff of pepper. Also surprisingly long for such a young whisky.

Final thoughts

This whisky is, I feel, another good example of how straying from the beaten path can deliver interesting results. It’s youthful and enjoyable and brings  enough flavour and development with those birch wine casks in the mix. That said, I would never consider paying around €100 or even more for this as that’s in my opinion  mainly secondary market prices trying to cash in on the scarcity of this release. I don’t know what the RRP was on release back in 2021  - Mackmyra did have a bit of a reputation for being all over the place when it came to pricing – but it should’ve been closer to €70 or €75 (and that’s probably partly down to the somewhat fancy bottle stopper).

Almost immediately after Mackmyra’s bankruptcy was announced, there was talk a plenty of companies interested in taking over to allow Mackmyra a relaunch under new ownership. Eventually Mackmyra did seem in the clear as it was bought by a company (No. 1 Capital AB ) together with previous owner/board member  Lennart Hero. So while that seemed like good news, but from what I understand it’s by no means out of the woods, as first the company that bought Mackmyra seems to be facing substantial financial difficulties of its own and then back in July this year, Lennart Hero (unexpectedly) passed away at the age of 76.  I’m not quite sure what the most recent status report is on Mackmyra’s potential future, but safe to say it doesn’t look all rosy. Which, I think is a real shame, because they did something really unique and different. Be it with their vertical distillery, which was cost- and energy efficient, showing it is possible to think outside the box of not just what distilleries should look like, but also how they ought to be operated. Be it because of them using an abandoned mining facility as a warehouse, effectively maturing their whiskies underground. Now I don’t know enough about how this impacts or benefits the maturation conditions, but there is such a thing as a cool factor as well. But most importantly because they weren’t afraid to experiment and mix things up. Sticking to a (sound) principle of sourcing everything within a 75 km radius from the distillery, meant they didn’t wish to rely on imported Scottish peat for their smoky expressions, but rather used locally sourced juniper wood to impact a smoky flavour to their barley. And while they did use traditional bourbon and sherry casks, they weren’t shy of using oddball casks as well, like they did with their Grönt Te (matured in green tea cask) or this one, using birch wine casks as part of the maturation. Yes it can sometimes be a case of hit or miss, and likely what they did and how they did it wouldn’t appeal to everyone out there, but exactly because they showed the world that it’s better to try and do your own thing rather than trying to copy paste the OG’s, they were noteworthy, to say the least. And for that reason alone, I hope the pioneering spirit of Mackmyra will return, in one form or another.

photo credit: whiskybase.com