Mackmyra to open experimental distillery

Swedish whisky producer Mackmyra is to open a stand-alone Lab Distillery at its former production site as the company seeks to develop innovative spirits in collaboration with craft distillers.

Mackmyra is to open an experimental distillery at its former Bruk production site

Mackmyra opened its Bruk single malt whisky distillery north of Stockholm in 2002, before moving production to a ‘gravity’ distillery in the Mackmyra Whisky Village.

The Bruk site has remained silent since, but will reopen as the Lab distillery and run as an independent venture.

Rickard Aldén will be the first distiller to work at the Lab facility, with the initial product idea to be presented at Mackmyradagen – or Mackmyra Day – on 20 May.

“The past few years have seen an explosion in interest for innovative, small-scale, craft spirits in Europe and the rest of the world, and besides whisky we are seeing a huge growth in several other interesting categories of spirits,” said Magnus Dandanell, founder and CEO of Mackmyra.

“At the same time, there are many young distilleries out there with amazing product ideas who don’t have their own distillery. By allowing them to turn their dreams into reality we can take advantage of the power of innovation and our substantial knowledge of distilling and product development.”

He added: “We are now reopening the distillery and will showcase the first product idea at our yearly open day festival, Mackmyradagen.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time in the spirits industry and because of our attention to detail, traceability and local produce we are in just the right place to bring great new craft spirits to connoisseurs in Sweden, Europe and the rest of the world.”

Last year, Mackmyra launched a cask-buying scheme for consumers, an offer that raised SEK3.5 million (US$389,000) to boost cash flow.