I absolutely love my subscription boxes and they regularly feature on this blog, but aside from beauty boxes, did you know that you can also get food, fashion, sweets and even drinks? To date, I have only had beauty subscription boxes which have involved fragrances and a mixture of skincare and makeup and today I am sharing with you a drinks based subscription service from The Summerton Club. The Summerton Club launched in January of this year and the whole idea behind it is to take the hard work out of finding fantastic drinks. Founder, Daniel Humphrey invests his time and expertise to source unique and interesting spirits and they describe themselves as being "a craft spirits members club where they curate and deliver only the finest aged alcohol from around the world directly to your door".
Admittedly, I have never come across a spirits subscription service and having been given the opportunity to give it a try, I really like the idea. The Summerton Club is a spirits subscription service and it has different membership options available, so you can choose to have a bottle delivered monthly, bi-monthly or even quarterly depending on your own preference. Also, if Whisky is your drink of choice, you can now opt to have a bottle delivered every two months too. Each month, The Summerton Club has a 'Bottle of the Month' and it changes frequently and has, in the past includes Brandy, Whisky and Rum and to name just a few and within each of these drink choices there is up to three different varieties, for example within the Brandies you might find an Armagnac, Cognac or Grappa. The bottles you receive are not your typical Supermarket brands either, for the month of October, I was kindly sent the Mackmyra Gruvguld Swedish Single Malt Whisky, something which is not available to the UK, so already, this service offers something a little more out of reach and a little bit distinct.
The Mackmyra Gruvguld Swedish Single Malt Whisky comes with an amazing story and it is a story of Mackmyra starts in Sälen, a ski resort in the west of Sweden, in March 1998. Eight friends met in a snow-covered cabin, each bringing a bottle of whisky with them to share on their holiday. There conversations one evening turned to whisky and the fact that whilst there was a lot of interest and love for single malt whisky in Sweden, there were no Swedish distilleries to make the golden nectar. That night, the eight decided to create a Swedish Whisky. I love that there is a background story to the making of this drink and more can be found here on The Summerton site.
The Mackmyra Gruvguld which means ‘Gold from the Mine’ has been aged in a variety of small casks 50 meters below the ground in the Bodås Mine. It is described as having an aromatic richness which is due to the wide variety of cask types used to mature the whisky and they include both Oloroso, Bourbon and Swedish Oak. When it comes to the taste, I am not an expert but am told there is three different parts to a whisky - the nose, the taste and the aftertaste. With Mackmyra Gruvguld the nose gives you a scent of being Spicy with berries, fruits and light oily notes. Toasted notes of vanilla, oak and caramel fudge. A light warm and oaky spiciness with a hint of tar and mineralities. Sweet notes of raisin, marzipan, citrus and pear drop. Blackcurrant notes of older whisky are found together with spicy and herbal notes of aniseed, ginger and tobacco leaves. The taste gives a spicy taste with a balance laid between fruits, berries, oils and oak. So you get a hint of Blackcurrant, pear fudge and grapefruit which sit alongside the spicy oak with hints of tar and tobacco leaves. The texture has a light oiliness. For me, when it comes to whisky, the aftertaste is not one I particularly enjoy but with this whisky, it is described as being both oily and spicy with berries and a light dryness towards the end.
The Mackmyra Gruvguld which means ‘Gold from the Mine’ has been aged in a variety of small casks 50 meters below the ground in the Bodås Mine. It is described as having an aromatic richness which is due to the wide variety of cask types used to mature the whisky and they include both Oloroso, Bourbon and Swedish Oak. When it comes to the taste, I am not an expert but am told there is three different parts to a whisky - the nose, the taste and the aftertaste. With Mackmyra Gruvguld the nose gives you a scent of being Spicy with berries, fruits and light oily notes. Toasted notes of vanilla, oak and caramel fudge. A light warm and oaky spiciness with a hint of tar and mineralities. Sweet notes of raisin, marzipan, citrus and pear drop. Blackcurrant notes of older whisky are found together with spicy and herbal notes of aniseed, ginger and tobacco leaves. The taste gives a spicy taste with a balance laid between fruits, berries, oils and oak. So you get a hint of Blackcurrant, pear fudge and grapefruit which sit alongside the spicy oak with hints of tar and tobacco leaves. The texture has a light oiliness. For me, when it comes to whisky, the aftertaste is not one I particularly enjoy but with this whisky, it is described as being both oily and spicy with berries and a light dryness towards the end.
The Summerton Club’s October Bottle of the Month; Mackmyra Gruvguld has an alcoholic volume of 46.1% and both the box and bottle really are beautifully presented, making it a fabulous gift. I love the whole concept, I like that it is unique, I love that you get the chance to discover new and interesting drinks, I like that you have a choice over your membership and I like that there is so much information given on each and every spirit, it is the little touches like this, which for me make something worthwhile as I like detail. So, if you have a family member, friend or colleague who likes their spirits, then this is an ideal gift choice.
*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.