🇫🇮 Kyrö Wood Smoke – Malt Rye Whisky

Alderwood has also been experimented with for smoking malt.
We have traveled to the Northern Hemisphere, more specifically to Finland. Here, Kyrö Distillery has used alder wood to smoke their malt. The Alder tree is a bit more common in Finland and the Northern Hemisphere.

Kyrö Distillery makes delicious rye whisky, and for this smoky variation they have smoked the rye malt with alderwood smoke.

A rye whisky made from a 100% rye mash. It has been aged in ex-bourbon casks, French oak casks, and new American oak casks. Bottled at 47.2% abv.

The rye malt was dried and smoked in the old-fashioned way in a “riihi”, a traditional Finnish smokehouse. This tradition goes back over 100 years.

A “riihi” is a traditional Finnish smokehouse, primarily used for drying grain, especially barley and rye. They are typically made of wood and have a chimney in the middle that vents the smoke. Riihi’s often have a platform or loft where the grain can be spread out to dry evenly.

In Finland, riihi’s have played an important role in agriculture for centuries. They were crucial to preserving the harvest and preventing the grain from rotting. Riihi’s were also social gathering places where people met to work, party, and tell stories. So a great starting point for a drink that brings people together.

The rye gives a lot of delicious spicy notes of cedar, rye bread, dark caramel and the alderwood smoke gives a mild sweet touch of berries and dried moss, which works quite well and adds some fruitiness to the whisky while also helping to balance the bitterness of the rye.

Kyrö Malt Rye Whisky is lightly smoked, so you don’t get a smoky kick, but more of a gentle sensation. The rye is the most dominant, both on the nose and on the palate. It would be interesting to taste a more heavily smoked version, still with alderwood of course, as I think it suits the rye very well.

We don’t get an age on the whisky and a guess is that it is naturally over 3 years old but probably hasn’t reached 4 years. This edition is from 2021 and is a Pre-Release Limited Edition. I don’t know if there will be more like this, but it tastes good.

🅾🆅🅴🆁 🅰🅻🅻
Exciting with a different smoke flavor and I think it suits the rye very well. Whether they should make more of this alderwood smoked rye whisky at Kyrö – Yes, please! 🙂