Mackmyra Seasonal Releases - Stjärnrök

Swedish distillery @Mackmyra release two annual Säsongswhisky 'seasonal' whiskies usually featuring innovative seasonal characteristics focusing on unusual finishes often reflecting the prevailing season.

I've tried a number of them and they are often unusual. This season's release, linked with Wintertime, is Stjärnrök, let's see what it's like...

Sweden don't have the same stuck-in-the-mud restrictions on the use of casks that the Scottish whisky industry has. Whilst Scottish distillers must:

"Mature in new oak casks and/or in oak casks which have only been used to mature wine (still or fortified) and/or beer/ale and/or spirits with the exception of: 

• Wine, beer/ale or spirits produced from, or made with, stone fruits; 

• Beer/ale to which fruit, flavouring or sweetening has been added after fermentation; 

• Spirits to which fruit, flavouring or sweetening has been added after distillation and where such previous maturation is part of the traditional processes for those wines, beer/ales or spirits."

their Swedish cousins are free to use whatever they like and Mackmyra in particular do.

Previous Säsongswhisky releases (as listed at the end of this blog) have included Glühwine, Calvados,  Amarone, Cloudberry wine and even Green Tea soaked casks, this particular release, like the Sommartid, has been partly matured in Cloudberry wine seasoned Swedish Oak casks - the difference is this one has a peated element. Mackmyra are very open about their recipe:

• Ex-Bourbon smoky recipe. 200 L

• Smoky Fresh Oloroso. 30 L

• Smoke and extra smoke, American oak & ex-bourbon. 30 L

• Smoke tail, ex-bourbon. 100 L

• Oloroso new and first fill. 128 L 

• American Oak pre-stored elegant recipe. 128 L

• Swedish oak cask saturated with Cloudberry wine. 100 L

• Ex-Bourbon elegant recipe 200L

 

Distillery notes: 

From deep beneath a Swedish mountain our latest expression, Stjärnrök (Star Smoke), arises into the heavens. Stjärnrök is nurtured from our handcrafted smoky recipes, and matured into its true form in a shelter of oloroso, ex-bourbon and American oak casks, building its body, complexity and gentle sweetness. Subterranean, it developed its deep, dark red ripe notes through Spanish Oloroso and combined these with the native cloudberry of the surrounding ancient woodlands.

Nose: Smoke, spiciness and peat with notes of juniper. Fruity, raisins, nuts, dried fruit, roasted bread tones, vanilla fudge, tobacco leaves, sandalwood, cedar and ginger. 

Taste: Smoky, fruity and spicy with peat and juniper notes together with minerals, herbs from vanilla fudge, raisins, orange peel, dark chocolate and dried fruit. Further on there is spiciness from roasted oak casks, sandal and cedarwood, anise, white pepper and ginger. A soft oakiness and a light oily texture.  

Aftertaste: Clear smoke in the aftertaste in symbiosis with exotic dried fruits.

My thoughts:

Appearance: Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, slowly bead up and fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: Gentle smoke, stewed orchard fruit, dried fruit and a note of sweet honey. Apples and pears with raisins baked in the oven - maybe slightly overdone - hence the smoke.

Palate: Creamy arrival, sweet and spicy, the stewed orchard fruit from the nose is here: apples and pears, there's some sour citrus: grapefruit and a little toffee note. Then the smoke comes - much more than the nose suggests, immediately drying the palate - really nice. A few more sips reveals more complexity - red fruit: strawberries, raspberries and red currents; with a lovely ginger spice.

Finish: Lingering smoke and citrus with the stewed orchard fruit..

Thoughts: A really complex recipe - 8 different cask types - and each of them has had an impact - the orchard fruit Mackmyra DNA is there - but stewed this time - ex-bourbon and American Oak influences. The oloroso and I assume the cloudberry give red fruit notes which complement the orchard fruit.  One third of the recipe is smoked (the glowing peat is seasoned with brittle juniper twigs when drying the barley) but for me it has a huge impact on the whisky especially on the palate and finish. It's really nice - my favourite Säsongswhisky since the Vintersol of 2019 and perfect for the coming winter.

Many thanks to @Mackmyra for the sample!

Geeky stuff:

Säsongswhisky Releases
Released	Name		ABV	Cask types
Sep '21	Stjärnrök	Star Smoke	46.1%	Ex-bourbon, Oloroso & Cloudberry wine seasoned Swedish Oak
Mar '21	Björksav	Birch Sap	46.1%	Swedish Birch Sap wine casks
Sep '20	Jaktlycka	Happy hunting	46.1%	Swedish berry wine casks
Mar '20	Grönt Te	Green Tea	46.1%	Newly saturated Ex-Oloroso casks rinsed with Green Tea
Sep '19	Vintersol	Winter Sun	46.1%	Quinta Do Vallado Port Wine casks
Mar '19	Äppelblom	Apple Bloom	46.1%	Christian Drouin Calvados casks
Sep '18	Vinterglöd	Winter Glow	46.1%	Swedish mulled wine and PX Sherry casks
Apr '18	Gruvguld	Gold from the mine	46.1%	Oloroso and PX sherry
Mar '17	Ten Years	Ten Years	46.1%	Bourbon, Oloroso and new american oak casks
Sep '17	Skördetid	Harvest Time	46.1%	Masi Amarone cask
Sep '16	Vinterdröm	Winter dream	46.1%	Plantation Rum casks
Mar '16	Blomstertid	Flowering time	46.1%	Swedish cherry wine casks
Oct '15	Vinterrök	Winter smoke	46.1%	Scottish Strong Ale casks
May '15	Sommartid	Summertime	46.1%	Swedish cloudberry wine casks
Oct '14	Iskristall	Ice crystal	46.1%	Pedro Ximenez sherry casks
May '14	Midnattssol	Midnight Sun	46.1%	Swedish wine made from birch sap
Oct '13	Midvinter	Midwinter	46.1%	French Bordeaux casks, glühwine casks and sherry casks