Whisky Countries and Regions

Swedish Whisky

A wooden cask beside a glass jug and sheaves of grain.

In 1955, Vin & Spritcentralen bought two second hand pot stills from Bladnoch and began making Skeppets in Södertälje, decades before Mackmyra was founded.[3] Skeppets’ traditional claim to be Sweden’s first whisky is disputed, but its production belongs firmly to the 1950s.[3][5] The wider story takes in mountain cabins, a former power plant beside the Ångerman river and maturation deep in an old mine.

Today, Mackmyra, High Coast and Spirit of Hven reveal the breadth of Swedish whisky. Their choices of water, wood and setting offer a more rewarding introduction than the search for a single national style.

What makes a whisky Swedish?

Swedish whisky follows the European Union’s spirit drinks regulation, not a separate Swedish whisky definition.[1] Under the EU definition, whisky is made from a mash of malted cereals and distilled at less than 94.8% alcohol by volume. It must mature for at least three years in wooden casks holding no more than 700 litres, and be bottled at no less than 40% alcohol by volume.[1][2]

That framework leaves room for considerable variety. Swedish producers use peated and unpeated approaches, different water sources and several ways of working with wood. The history also embraces both blends and single malts: Skeppets belongs to the former category, an important distinction when comparing it with later Swedish whiskies.

Skeppets: an early Swedish whisky

A shortage of Scotch after the Second World War helped set Skeppets in motion. Vin & Spritcentralen, now Vin & Sprit, also wanted an in house production benchmark for discussions with importers. In 1955, it bought two second hand pot stills from Bladnoch, a Lowland distillery, and began making whisky in Södertälje that same year.[3]

Skeppets Whisky reached Systembolaget in 1961. At launch, it was a heavily peated blend of 55% malt and 45% grain, rather than a single malt. The recipe changed several times during its life. A large ship’s wheel distinguished the label; production continued until 1970.[3]

A documentary by Carl Lönndahl challenged Skeppets’ traditional place as Sweden’s first whisky. The available information gives neither its findings nor the date it proposes, leaving no basis here for identifying an alternative first whisky.[3][5]

The equipment has its own continuing story. Spritmuseum displays a still that it says made Sweden’s first whisky, bought from Scotland by Vin och Spritcentralen in the 1950s.[4] One of the old Skeppets stills now distils Östgöta Sädesbrännvin; the other stands in the Vin & Sprit history museum in Stockholm. The museum also held a small Skeppets exhibition from 4 October to 25 November 2007.[3]

A story attributes damage to the Skeppets brand to poor quality in its early years. With no named proponent in the account, this remains a legend. The documented history records the launch blend, subsequent recipe changes and the end of production in 1970.[3]

Mackmyra: from a cabin idea to a distillery

Eight friends arrived at a mountain cabin in Sälen in 1998, each carrying a bottle of whisky. They had studied engineering together and met at the cabin annually. According to Mackmyra, that coincidence prompted a question: why did Sweden have no malt whisky? Mackmyra Svensk Whisky was founded the following year.[6]

The cabin gathering is central to Mackmyra’s identity, but its place in Swedish whisky history comes after Skeppets, already in production in 1955. Mackmyra’s story instead centres on ingredients and production choices associated with Sweden.[3][6]

The producer says it began with locally grown barley, spring water and Swedish oak. It also developed a 30 litre cask to encourage more intense maturation. That cask size and its use of Swedish oak are two aspects of its approach to wood, both within the wider EU framework for whisky maturation.[1][6]

Mackmyra describes its smoky recipe as malted and smoked by hand with local peat and juniper. It says whisky also matures in the old Bodås mine, 50 metres underground. These are details of Mackmyra’s own production and maturation, not methods shared by every Swedish distillery.[6]

Mackmyra now produces at its Gravity Distillery, where gravity saves energy, according to the producer. Its corporate history took a sharp turn when the board of Mackmyra Svensk Whisky AB filed for bankruptcy at Gävle District Court on 19 August 2024. The name continued: Mackmyra says it now has new owners and belongs to No.1 Beverage Group.[6][7][12]

High Coast: whisky on the Ångerman river

High Coast makes whisky in the old power plant of the Box AB wooden box factory, beside the Ångerman river. The factory supplied its original name, Box. The distillery stands at Sörviken, Bjärtrå, in Ådalen, and was founded in 2010 by Mats de Vahl, Per de Vahl, Jan Sahlén, Anders Jonasson, Per Rydberg and Thomas Larsson.[8][9]

The first spirit ran in December 2010. The first casks were filled the day before Christmas Eve that year. Described as Sweden’s northernmost distillery, the site lies at 63 degrees north. Its pot stills are modelled on those at Kilchoman: the wash still holds about 3,800 litres and the spirit still about 2,500 litres.[8][9]

Water has two distinct jobs at High Coast. Bålsjön spring lake supplies production water, while the Ångerman river provides cooling water. River water at 2 to 6 degrees Celsius cools the spirit. For unpeated whisky, High Coast uses Pilsner malt from Vikingmalt in Halmstad.[8][9]

The company name was Box Destilleri AB from 2010 to 2018, and the first Box single malts appeared in 2014. In June 2018, the distillery became High Coast after Compass Box raised concerns about consumer confusion. Box and High Coast therefore belong to the history of the same producer.[8][9]

High Coast launched its Origins core range in 2019 with Älv, Berg and Hav, followed by Timmer in 2020.[8] Earlier Box releases explain why the old name still appears in accounts of the distillery.

Published capacity figures differ. One account gives 350,000 litres a year; another describes about 100,000 litres of pure alcohol, with expansion planned to 300,000. These are differing accounts, rather than an agreed figure for current capacity.[8][9]

Spirit of Hven: an island distillery

Spirit of Hven began as one of the world’s smallest pot still distilleries, according to the producer. It stands on the island of Hven in Öresund, where distilling began in 2008. Anja and Henric Molin had developed the idea ten years earlier.[10]

Its reach now extends well beyond the island. The distillery says it exports whisky, vodka, gin and aquavit to more than 40 countries. It also operates its own laboratory and advises other distilleries.[10] Whisky is made at the Hven site, one part of a broader spirits business.

A developing picture

A trade source counted 13 whisky distilleries in Sweden in 2017.[11] That gives a dated view of the industry, not a current total; the available evidence supplies no established count of operating distilleries today.

The more revealing picture comes from individual producers: Skeppets’ heavily peated launch blend, Mackmyra’s Swedish oak and hand-worked smoky recipe, High Coast’s unpeated malt, and Spirit of Hven’s island distillery, laboratory and advisory work. Their differences in recipe, maturation and production make Swedish whisky a category best explored through the choices of its makers, rather than one assumed national style.

At a glance