Distillation

Four distilleries, four different still setups, and Hven's is the smallest. The Molins' distillery is considered the smallest copper pot still distillery in the world. Its stills look more like laboratory equipment than industrial plant. That fits the idea behind it: founder Henric Molin is a chemist and wanted to be able to control every step himself.

Smögen on the west coast uses a 900-liter wash still and a 600-liter spirit still. The setup is deliberately small, true to founder Pär Caldenby's vision. Both stills are cooled with worm tubs, old coiled copper pipes sitting in cold water, rather than modern shell-and-tube condensers. Worm tubs work more slowly and roughly than modern condensers. This gives the distillate heavier, meatier notes, which are only smoothed out later in the cask.

Mackmyra distills at what's called the Gravity Distillery near Gävle. The building makes use of gravity. The mash flows from top to bottom through every stage, from the malting floor down to the still. It isn't pumped upward, which, according to Mackmyra, saves energy and treats the spirit more gently.

All four Swedish houses distill twice, as is customary in Scotland. They use a wash still followed by a spirit still, rather than triple distillation as in Ireland. During the cut, the heart is separated out from the spirit still's run. Each distillery relies on its master distiller's nose and experience for this. There's still no legal requirement in Sweden specifying the exact cut point.