WhiskyCast Episode 509: December 6, 2014

In the first of this week's two episodes of WhiskyCast, we'll travel to Sweden to look at two of the country's whisky distilleries. Mackmyra is Sweden's oldest distillery...even though it's only 15 years old, and matures its malts in a former mine 50 metres underground. The Box Distillery has just released its second single malt four years after beginning production in a former power plant, and both releases sold out within hours at Sweden's state-run liquor monopoly. In the news, Chip Tate has accepted a buyout offer from Balcones Distillery's majority owners and has left with plans to start his own distillery in Waco, Texas, but there remains a great deal of bitterness between the two sides. We'll have more on this story in this week's bonus episode. Former Bruichladdich managing director Mark Reynier is back in the whisky business after working out a deal to buy a former Guinness brewery in Ireland and convert it into a distillery, and the Beam brothers have brought a new partner in to help grow their Limestone Branch Distillery in Kentucky.