Mackmyra Reserve 3 Year Old
As regular readers of my little blog may remember, I have family in Sweden and as such I tend to visit at least once a year. Heck, we’re such good friends by now, you and I, that I suppose I may as well reveal that it is my dear parents who have moved here – that with one of them being Swedish, thus making me a half breed, they’ve retired right by the Swedish coast. There, my dirty little secret is out in the open. So I’m here once again, and immediately upon my arrival my old man proudly thrust a bottle of his latest acquisition in my face – a bottle of ‘Mackmyra Reserve – Bengt J.’ (the latter being his name) from his very own (sherry/smoke) cask of Mackmyra.
Mackmyra sell their whisky in bottles or in full casks, and if you buy a cask you get to decide when to bottle it, the type of cask, and get your name (or any name of your choice) printed on the bottles. This is the first bottling that my father has drawn, after 3 years maturation, and it stands at a very bold 57.5% ABV. As I’ve already mentioned the cask used for this particular bottling is called Smoke/Sherry – unfortunately I was unable to find out exactly what it had previously stored, however.
I initially tasted it neat, but as you would expect from such a young and alcoholic whisky the aroma and taste were muddled by the alcoholic content. Having added a few drops of water, however, I picked up vanilla, raisins, sultanas, dried apricot, a whisper of white chocolate and just a murmur of wood and smoke – though not as much of the latter as I had hoped. The palate is very similar indeed and drunk neat carries quite the burn, again it is much more pleasant with water added to it.
My final verdict is that it is a fine whisky which shows some great potential. The basic flavors are lovely, but it definitely needs another couple of years of maturation to reach its full potential. Luckily, my father still has a fair few bottles (30 or so, I believe) left in his cask, which means that I will return in a couple of years’ time with a new review – something that I am very much looking forward to. The cost per (16oz) bottle is in the region of $40, which places it in tough competition that currently leaves it far from the top of its field, but I suspect that it will climb quite briskly with the years.
Eye: Medium shimmering gold.
Nose: Vanilla, raisins, sultanas, dried apricot, whisper of white chocolate, wood and smoke.
Palate: Pretty much the very same as the nose, needs water.