Mackmyra

Distillery

Mackmyra is a Swedish whisky distillery, set up in 1999 at Mackmyra, in Valbo south-west of Gävle.^1,2,3 In 2011 it opened the Gravity distillery in Mackmyra Whisky Village, a tower where gravity moved the malt down through each stage.^1,3,4 Most of its whisky aged 50 metres underground in the old Bodås Mine.^1,2 It was bought out of bankruptcy in October 2024, but SVT reported in March 2026 that the distillery still stood idle.^5,6,7

Latest distillery releases

View all releases

Mackmyra No. 001
2002 vintage20 years46.3%
Mackmyra Brukswhisky DLX II
Moment
2021 release44%
Mackmyra Limousin
46.1%
Mackmyra 1999 Vision
45.2%

From ironworks to whisky

The bar-iron smithy at Mackmyra ironworks, a forge that hammered iron into bars, was built in 1839.

8

Its south end became a mill after forging ended there in 1877, and a power station was later built just east of the mill.⁸

The idea for the distillery came in 1998, when eight friends who had studied engineering together met on a ski trip.^1,3

They set up Mackmyra Svensk Whisky in 1999, and on 18 December 1999 the first spirit ran from a small pilot distillery's condenser, which turns vapour into spirit.^1,2,3

The Bruk distillery

In 2000 Mackmyra made its first 30-litre cask, a small size that lets whisky mature more intensively.¹ In 2001 it settled on two recipes, Elegant and Smoke, after trying 170.^1,2,3 In 2002 the Bruk distillery began making spirit in the ironworks' old mill and power station, with a full-sized pot still from Forsyth's of Rothes, Scotland.^2,3,9 It also had Swedish stainless steel washbacks, the tanks where fermentation happens, and a German mash tun, the vessel where milled malt is stirred with hot water.^2,3,9 In 2004 the old Bodås Mine in Hofors became its main warehouse.^1,3

Sources disagree: the date. This page uses 2001.

2001: Mackmyra Svensk Whisky, The Local^1,11
2002: Wikipedia, Difford's Guide^2,3

Whisky Village and the Gravity distillery

In 2009 Mackmyra, led by founder and chief executive Magnus Dandanell, announced a whisky village in Gävle to reach markets abroad; building began that year.^1,10 Mackmyra Whisky Village opened in 2010.^1,10 The Gravity distillery opened there in 2011, about 10 km east of Mackmyra village, with two full-sized pot stills in a 35-metre tower.^1,3,4 In December 2011 Mackmyra Svensk Whisky AB listed its shares on Nasdaq OMX's First North market.^3,11 The Bruk distillery stood silent after production moved to the Gravity distillery, and in 2017 it reopened as the Lab distillery, where Mackmyra started making gin.^1,9

Next: How it made its spirit, Later years

Sources

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Owners

2024–today: Lennart Hero and No 1 Capital AB