瑞典威士忌- Mackmyra 希望7號 (No.7- Hope)

Everyone knows about whisky producers from Scotland, Japan, Canada, UK, etc. But did anyone know or hear about the producers in Sweden or Finland?

Just by chance visiting one of the biggest whisky bar in Pori, western Finland. There are more than 300 selections of whiskies but unfortunately there's no official whisky list. You can just select the whiskies on the shelves or table like this:

Guess it would take a century for customers to select their beloved- they even have Port Ellen there (But I don't dare to ask the price) !!! Finally I have picked a Swedish made whisky that I would not have that many chances to try.

Mackmyra is a local Swedish distillery set up by 8 enthusiastic Swedish in 1999 but the crazy idea came when they were hiking together in 1998 and had brought along a single malt whisky to drink in the trip. They loved the whisky and wondered why there ware no Swedish made whiskies. After that the journey of their whisky life started... They have been quite successful even with a short history. In 2012, they have been honoured Distiller of the year by Wizards of Whisky and have won European Spirits Producer of the year awarded by IWSC.

Mackmyra has several product lines and "Special Edition" is their biggest so far. There are total of 10 limited editions of single malt whiskies releasing between 2008-2013 which bottled one time only. All the whiskies are matured & saturated in different types of cask from 30-200L. The production is about 15,000 bottles per edition.

Mackmyra Special: 07 Hope, 700ml, 45.8% abv, released in Autumn 2011

Aroma: vanilla, spongy cake, banana, dry papaya, a hint of fresh fig & grass, candy, nail polish, almond Palate: a hint of oaky, vanilla, grass, nail polish, dry fruit Conclusion: Quite strong alcohol feeling when going into mouth n drinking, produce lots of heat and affects part of the palate. Smell and look a bit like bourbon cask. However as a Swedish whisky, quite a surprise as it's not just with character of typical bourbon but with some fruitiness and sweetness. The reason is- it is actually not in bourbon but in cloudberry wine cask!!! Cloudberry is being the most appreciated berry in both Finland and Sweden and one of the most expensive species. They are not growing everywhere in the countries but just in very limited regions.  Simple but attractive, especially with the sweetness in both aroma & palate. Quite pale in colour, kind of short length with medium-low intensity. To describe, it would be like a teen girl who is around 16 years old- trying to get matured but not yet the time, still keeping certain extent of cute and lovely character and have much room for further development. With tax selling at €70 for 700ml is kinda expensive.  Local stuff there are just expensive with their standard of living. Worth trying but not for more unless there are other editions to change my impression; bonus marks are given for only one-time-production... 飲得過之選