Mackmyra was born of eight Swedish friends who loved good whisky. The Mackmyra First Edition, as the name implies, was their first wide release in 2008. The distillery exemplifies what we love to see foreign (i.e. non-Scottish) distillers do: embrace their own locality and make great whisky from what lays around them instead of seeking to emulate scotch. They continue to grow in output and accolades, but this first try is enough to give whisky drinkers ample notice.
From one of the very few artisanal distilleries in the United States, McCarthy’s has only been in production since 2000. It hasn’t wasted any time, though, winning awards and other high marks in short order. McCarthy’s is also unique in that the whisky is made from peated malt imported from Islay, given that Oregon shares certain climate qualities with Scotland. The aging renders their young whisky surprisingly smooth.
Because some drinks deserve their own holiday. World Whisky Day was founded in 2012 by Blair Bowman, a Scottish graduate student at the University of Aberdeen and whisky enthusiast. It blew up the internet and the inaugural year had over 200 events in every continent on Earth except Antarctica by over 20,000 people. So we here at Scotchology are holding our own celebratory event: a whiskey tasting! So what are you doing?