Mackmyra Deep Dive MasterClass | Belfast Whiskey Week 2021

Name: Belfast Whiskey Week 2026
Start: 2026-07-24
End: 2026-08-01
Location: Belfast

Filed: 24 Jul 2021
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/21/436

On the morning of 24th July 2021, Belfast Whiskey Week turned its gaze northward — not across the sheugh to Scotland, but further still, to the birch forests and frozen lakes of Sweden. Session 77 was a MasterClass dedicated entirely to Mackmyra, the pioneering Swedish single malt distillery that has been quietly rewriting the rules of what whisky can be. Six fifty-millilitre samples, one dedicated glass, and a couple of hours in the company of one of the world's most genuinely original whisky makers — this was the uisce beatha at its most exploratory.

About This Event

This tasting includes 6 x 50ml Samples & Glass and will take place on the 24th @ 12:00.

This tasting comprises of:

BWW Festival Exclusive Bottling 10 year old
Intelligens
Björksav
Moment Efva
Moment Karibien
Cask samples of Smoky American Oak

Tasting packs will be posted out to you, but may not arrive in time for the tastings. If you wish to collect the pack in Belfast to ensure you have it in time, please contact grace@belfastwhiskeyweek.com after you order.

Looking Back

There are tastings that cover ground, and there are tastings that dig. Session 77 dug. The lineup assembled for this MasterClass was a genuine statement of intent: a BWW Festival Exclusive Bottling, the 10 year old expression, Intelligens (Mackmyra's AI-assisted whisky, which raised more than a few curious eyebrows), Björksav, Moment Efva, Moment Karibien, and cask samples of Smoky American Oak. Six expressions that told the full arc of a distillery that is rooted in Swedish terroir — the björksav, or birch sap, cask influence is a signature that no other whisky region on earth can claim — while remaining defiantly open to the wider world.

Mackmyra was founded in 1999 by a group of friends on a ski trip, which is perhaps the most Scandinavian origin story imaginable, and the distillery's tir is woven through everything it produces. The Moment series in particular reflects a distillery at play — Efva and Karibien each brought their own distinct character to the session, the former nodding to Swedish heritage, the latter showing how an island rum cask can pull a Nordic whisky somewhere altogether warmer and more sun-drenched. The cask samples of Smoky American Oak gave attendees a rare glimpse behind the curtain, the kind of raw, unfinished intimacy that makes a MasterClass format worth every penny of the £65 ticket.

The BWW Festival Exclusive Bottling was, as always, the centrepiece that gave the session its duchas — its sense of belonging to this particular place and time. A whisky bottled specifically for Belfast Whiskey Week carries something beyond the liquid in the glass; it carries the seanchas of the festival itself, a small piece of 2021 that exists nowhere else. For those who attended, that bottle became a souvenir of a very particular Saturday morning spent in concentrated, curious company.

It's worth noting that BWW 2021 was still shaped by the realities of the pandemic, and tasting packs were posted out to attendees across the island and beyond — a logistical act of faith that the festival pulled off with characteristic warmth, even if a few packs arrived fashionably late. Those who wanted certainty were invited to collect in Belfast, which meant that for some this was a proper in-person morning, drams poured at a table, while for others it was a kitchen-table adventure with a laptop open and a glass in hand. Both felt right. The format suited Mackmyra's own spirit of experimentation.

If the Swedish deep dive left you wanting to explore more of what BWW 2021 had on offer, the festival's Irish roots were equally well served that year. Session 83 took a long look at the history of Bushmills, one of the oldest licensed distilleries in the world and a giant of Ulster whiskey making. Those drawn to the craft and cask end of things might also revisit the Bushmills Causeway Collection MasterClass, which offered its own deep-dive format into some of the most sought-after whiskeys the Old Bushmills Distillery has released. And for something a little different in spirit, the Sexton Deconstruction Showcase was a masterclass in understanding what makes a single malt tick from the inside out. Sláinte mhaith to everyone who raised a glass that morning — wherever in the world they happened to be sitting.