Several distilleries over the years have laid claim to the accolade of the world's most northerly whisky producer, the current flag-bearer, and likely the last is the Aurora Spirit distillery. It is located far within the Arctic Circle, not far from the town of Lyngseidet in Norway. Surrounded by the Lyngen Alps, nearby fjords and with views of the the arctic wilderness and Northern Lights, the setting is truly stunning. As if the environs were not enough, the workings of the distillery are no less intriguing. It was built within a disused NATO Cold War base, and the maturation of its whisky takes place within its network of underground tunnels.
The distillery's spirits are bottled under the Bivrost brand, and Whisky Auctioneer is delighted to again bring to auction the first 20 numbered bottlings in what is their third release of arctic single malt. The distillery plans to launch its first permanent Bivrost range in 2025, and until then will launch a series of limited editions, two per year as part of a collectible series based on the nine worlds of Norse mythology. The first and second release were Niflheim and Nidavellier, respectively. Muspelheim is the third, and first of the 2021 releases. The whisky is marriage of the distillery's peated and non-peated spirit, all distilled in 2017. The casks used were ex-Islay single malt barrels, ex-bourbon quarter casks and sime smaller octave casks.
Muspelheim has been distilled using a wash of pilsner malt and Scottish peated malt (55ppm), created with water sourced from the distillery's local spring, which receives melted glacier water from the Lyngen alpine range. The spirit is triple distilled in Aurora Spirit's bespoke copper pot and column still, which produces a new make spirit of 75% ABV after 8 to 10 hours.
One of 2,282 bottles produced.
Bottle numbers available on request