Before coming to live in Japan to be a farmer I used to work in France in the spirits (armagnac, calvados, cognac, whisky etc.) industry. One of the many different roles I played was as a photographer for Whisky & Fine Spirits Magazine, visiting many different bars, breweries and distilleries, not just in France but also in Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales. Anyway, here is the second post in the series of photos from those trips, taking you to the Mackmyra whisky distillery in Sweden.
Whisky: distilled beer
Whisky, despite all the hype and multi-million dollar marketing that surrounds it, is a very simple product: it is, in fact, nothing more than distilled beer aged in oak casks for varying periods of time (ranging from 3 years minimum in the EU to 0 years in countries like Japan). Just as cognac and armagnac are technically what the French would call eaux-de-vie de vin, whisky (and that includes whiskey in the case of some - but not all - American and Irish whiskies) can quite legitimately be called an eau-de-vie de bière.
Mackmyra distillery
The first Mackmyra distillery was founded in 1999 by a group of whisky-loving friends who suddenly realised that it was crazy that there was at that time no whisky distillery in Sweden (the Swedes are internationally known for their love of whisky, particularly single malt Scotch). Their project met with such success that in 2011 they opened a second, more modern distillery to respond to demand, the one I am featuring here: called Gravity, it functions vertically, starting the beginning of the whisky production process at the very top, and continuing on down until the finished product exits the building at the very bottom, where it is sent to age in one of a number of cellar warehouses (two of which appear in this post). This economises on energy and makes for stunning architecture. In fact, I have rarely been to such an impressively modern and slick distillery, and find it hard to think of one more educational: physically following the production process from the top down really does make the whole thing much easier to understand.
Mackmyra aging cellars
One of the particularities of the Mackmyra distillery (or, rather, distilleries) is that they age their whisky in a number of different locations. Currently, the operate aging warehouses in a castle, on an island, in an underground mine and in specially designed concrete bunkers built alongside the Gravity distillery. Having such a wide choice of different environments in which to age their whisky allows the team at Mackmyra to play with a huge range of different tastes and odours: not surpisingly, two casks of the very same whisky will taste very different when one has spent three years in a pine forest, and the other three years on the edge of the sea!
The cellars built next to the Gravity distillery are not only very beautiful (virtually all the casks are private casks, chosen invidually by private customers, painted orange around the edge and adorned with brass plates) but quite impressive: I don't remember any other time when I actually literally felt the alcohol in the air! Because there are so many casks, and because the cellars are small in size, not much air circulates and so there are strict rules, I was told, on how long anyone could spend inside at any one time (too long, and you would pass out!).
The pot stills
The stills traditionally used for single malt whisky are called pot stills (because they are pot-shaped, resembling a cauldron, or kettle), and the ones used at Mackmyra follow the Scottish traditional model. There is a huge variation in the different shapes of pot stills, all having a strong influence on the style of the whisky (or, rather, 'new make spirit' as it cannot be called 'whisky' until it has been aged) that comes out of them: the ones at the Mackmyra Gravity distillery are designed to produced a rich and round distillate (the stills are round and fat) and to maintain a great deal of the original notes produced in the still (the neck is not too long, allowing most of the distillate to rise easily to the 'lyne arm' where it is siphoned off to be condensed).
James Bond-style aging warehouse!
One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the underground aging warehouses. Originally a mine, then a Sandvik testing centre, then a mushroom farm, the site had some history to it and was most impressive. Having driven up to the imposing black gates surrounded by snow and ice, we had to call into for the doors to be opened: with sirens and flashing lights, the doors slowly opened and we drove down about 50 metres below the surface.
The cellars are huge, and there are a lot of them. Not only are private casks aged here (like in the cellars at the Gravity distillery), but regular casks which will go towards making the regular bottlings, as well as experimental casks (former wine casks, former liqueur casks, casks made from different traditional Swedish woods, and casks of whisky made from barley smoked not with peat but with Swedish juniper).
A dedicated tasting bar and restaurant
Back at the Gravity distillery we visited the company's very own private restaurant and whisky tasting bar. Here, we took shelter from the snow and ice outside and warmed ourselves with single malts poured directly from the cask as well as a number of past expressions. Because the distilleries are still relatively young, there was nothing very old to taste but what Mackmyra may lack in age, it certainly makes up for in variety and character as well as a no-nonsense, up-front and fun approach that is vastly more engaging than the pompous marketing hype that is so typical now of Scotch and even American whisk(e)y.
Should you ever be in Sweden, I thoroughly recommend a visit!
When he's not obsessing over heritage varieties of vegetables & herbs, chasing off wild deer or otherwise running around the fields of his mountain farm, he's trying to beat the system, taking photos or trying to better understand cryptocurrencies.
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