Swedish liquid gold with a little Spanish and Japanese influence.....

It's pretty much 'by the book' when it comes to whisky in Scotland or the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) will jump on you from a great height if you try to stray from the rule book as Glen Moray's Cider Casks and Compass Box's Spice Tree found to their cost. In Sweden, on the other hand, they have a rule book but no one's seen it for a quite a few years....

Swedish Distillery workers

The SWA are pretty strict when it comes to which casks you can mature your whisky in - it's got to be Oak and it's got to have previously held something like bourbon, wine or a fortified wine : sherry, port etc. You can't add anything to the cask, either as part of it or 'floating' in it. You can't use strange washes - look up paxarette which was in use up until the early 90s.

At @mackmyra they try to do things a little differently - and this whisky shows that continued disregard for the rule book....

Apart from whisky, Angela D ́Orazio, Mackmyra's Master Blender, loves two things: "traveling to new cultures and bringing innovative combinations flavours and senses to life", as you can see from the picture above, she decided to do a little experiment along those lines.

Mackmyra Grönt Te is a Swedish single malt whisky that has been finished in a newly saturated Ex-Oloroso casks. A blend of oloroso wine and the finest vintage Japanese green tea leaves have seasoned the casks, providing a subtly spicy and flavourful whisky with a fruity and floral finish. The whisky has notes of fine vanilla, green apples and herbal green tea. Grönt Te is light amber in colour with subtle red reflections and is great to enjoy on any occasion. 

Distillery notes: 46.1% NAS

Fragrance:
Spicy, floral, fruity and fruity with green tones, white pepper and roasted vanilla. Dried grapes, citrus, pears and forest berries. 

Taste:
Fruity and floral texture with fine vanilla, herbal green tones, a light spice and green apples. 

Aftertaste:
Spicy, fruity and herb with green leaves and spicy vanilla.

My thoughts:

Appearance: Pale gold, almost white wine coloured in the glass. Swirls cling to the glass before falling as slow thick well spaced legs. 

Nose: Orchard fruit jump out of the glass, followed by a little tropical fruit and a hint of citrus. It does come across as very young and new makey maybe needing a little time in the glass to breathe. This leads to a cut grass or heather note along with a more pronounced citrus note. The official notes (above) talk of dried grape - isn't that a raisin? I'm not getting any of that but maybe a little of the juice from a squashed grape? 

Palate: Initially smooth, slightly oily, with the orchard and tropical fruit notes from the nose but it quickly turns spicy - tingling on the tongue. The oaky peppery spice and citrus fighting and leaving a very dry sour grapefruit note. 

Finish: Medium length, oaky spice and drying. 

Overall: The cask combination for this release was newly saturated ex-Oloroso (128 L),  new and 1st fill Oloroso (128 L), 1st fill Bourbon (100-200 L)  and 1st fill Swedish oak (100 L). The press release states "finished in a newly saturated Ex-Oloroso casks" - I'm guessing that means virgin oak casks which had been 'washed' with oloroso sherry? The Green Tea wasn't, as the picture suggests, put into the cask in leaf form but as a liquid "A spirit made of a blend of the finest vintage green tea from Japan has saturated the cask". 

It does remind me a lot of Svensk Ek, but not as sweet, but similar orchard fruit, tropical fruit and peppery spice notes. I'm not sure the oloroso 'casks' added anything and to be honest can't detect anything tea-like but, it is a nice whisky - will make a good Summer BBQ dram.

Thanks to @MackmyraUK for the sample.

Disclaimer: The picture at the top of this article was from an advert for Sweden's Absolut Vodka not for Mackmyra Whisky and the author does not want to imply that the Mackmyra distillery's staff act in the same way - but unless you go visit the distillery you won't know!
😉