World Whiskey Review #42: Mackmyra Grönt Te

Distillery: Mackmyra

Region: Sweden

Age: NAS

ABV: 46.1%

Cask Type: A blend of newly saturated ex-Oloroso casks which was seasoned with a blend of sherry and green tea, new and 1st fill Oloroso casks, a 1st fill Bourbon casks and 1st fill Swedish oak casks.

Price: £55

Color: 1.1, Burnished.

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Nose: (according to the wife) It smells of pineapple, but not fresh pineapple. It’s somewhere between extremely overripe pineapple and canned pineapples. There’s a little bit of spice as well.

Palate: Matcha powder is the first thing that pops in. It’s not even like it’s been brewed into a tea yet, it’s pure matcha powder. There’s a bit of malt as well to go along with it. It feels like they’re not quite married together without water. With a small splash of water, however, this whisky changes quite nicely. It gets sweeter on the whole while the green tea seems to blend in with the whisky properly. You get a bit of the savory element of green tea along with the malt sweetness. It’s almost like a lightly sweetened iced green tea. There’s a little bit of fruit hidden away that pops in here and there in the form of Juniper berries.

Finish: Medium in length. There’s a bit of spice, along with some green tea and a trace bit of menthol.

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Conclusion: Whisky aged in green tea casks. That’s not a combination I’d have considered but the Swedish distillery Mackmyra has come up with a very unique whisky using them. While you can’t smell the tea, it’s quite present everywhere else. Once a little bit of water has been added to this, the green tea notes settles nicely while playing nicely with the malt forward whisky. It honestly leaves me with the strong impression of what I order most frequently from Starbucks, an iced green tea. The little bit of juniper berry is nice to brighten things up a tad. Very interesting, I’m glad I’ve tried it and it’ll be a fun bottle to share. Not sure I would get a second one though.

Final Score: 79.

World Whiskey Review #42, Swedish whisky #2, Whisky Network Review #369

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.