High Coast Distillery is located in an old sawmill by the Ångerman river in Ådalen in northern Sweden. Here they make 100,000 liters of pure alcohol a year, and the vision is simple: to make the world’s best single malt whisky. Therefore, there is naturally a great focus on both raw materials and finesse in the production: they use both pilsner malt from Halmstad in Sweden and smoked malt imported from Scotland, the water comes from the local river and the fermentation is unusually long to create as much flavor as possible. The distillery is one of the most northerly in the world and there are huge temperature fluctuations in their warehouses (which are not temperature controlled) which has a radical effect on the whiskey’s interaction with the wooden casks. Two types of casks are used, both first-fill bourbon casks made of American white oak and Spanish oloroso sherry casks. Some are also converted into a traditional Swedish barrel type called ankare, which holds just under 40 litres. These are mainly used for private bottling.
