Smögen Heavily Peated Single Malts from Sweden’s West Coast

Sweden only came onto the whisky map after the founding of Mackmyra at the end of the 1990s. With Smögen Whisky, the young whisky nation has another landmark. The distillery is named after a picture-book Swedish fishing village in the Skagerrak. However, it owes its popularity among connoisseurs in and outside Sweden to its intensely smoky small batch single malts , which are now also available in Germany.

The whiskies are made by hand down to the last drop . The hands belong to founder, lawyer, whisky enthusiast and author Pär Caldenby , who was able to separate the tails from the heart of a distillate at Smögen Whisky for the first time in August 2010. He built his craft distillery from scratch in the outbuildings of a former farm. These house two small copper pot stills (one holds just 900 liters), bourbon and sherry casks and a "wormtub condenser" - a rare cooling system that makes the raw spirit heavier and more full-bodied .

Generally speaking, Smögen's single malts are powerful, characterful drops with a distinct smoky note, maritime overtones and malty sweetness. For the heavily peated Swedish single malts in the same peat weight class as Caol Ila or Ballechin, Caldenby imports peat malt from Scotland . From this he distills around Smögen 8 yo. The second batch matured in a classic combination of bourbon and sherry casks and develops smoky aromas as well as pear, tar, vanilla, nuts, licorice and citrus fruits at an intense 59.8% vol. Cask Strength . Peat smoke, dried fruit, vanilla, tar, cinnamon and orange sum up the profile of Smögen 100 Proof , the first product in the Core Range . The powerful single malt matures for at least six years on Sweden's west coast in Oloroso Sherry Quarter Casks - exclusively. Among the many fans of the amber-colored bottling is Whiskyfun's Serge Valentin , who honors Smögen 100 Proof with an impressive 91 points . "Comments: clearly one [of] the very best drops from 'the rest of the world' (as seen from Edinburgh or Glasgow)." You can find the entire review on whiskyfun.com