Macallan Classic Cut (2018 Release)

Ah, it pains me to pen this review. If we go back to early 2017, when Macallan released the first Classic Cut- I was thrilled. I loved that malt so much that I spent an entire Saturday riding around central Virginia scooping up every bottle I could find on local ABC store shelves (this was mid-late summer, mind you, and most bottles had disappeared). I ended up with 8 bottles. I knew this would be a malt I’d love to return to periodically- so I needed lots of bottles. So, flash forward to about a month ago and I see the new 2018 version sitting on shelves staring me down- same bright red box, same classic bottle design and label. Well, hell- I’m probably going to need 8 bottles of this year’s batch, too. Thankfully, the store only had 3- so, I’m only in for $270 + taxes at this point. The problem- this year’s version is a complete abomination. I don’t understand what’s going on. This bottle is down about 7-8% in ABV- that can’t be it. I still can’t put my finger on what the major flaw is. I’m perplexed. The 2018 version is yellow gold and makes medium drops and oily, quick-forming legs in the taster. It’s bottled at a robust 51.2% ABV. It’s still $89 here in Virginia. The nose foreshadows the short comings: fake, popcorn butter greets you right out of the bottle. Some funky oak notes and weak sherry notes take turns offending your senses. I get that same diacetyl acid flavor leaking through no matter how long you let it sit and relax. The palate is plenty juicy, almost mouthwatering. Sadly, that same buttered popcorn note dominates the sherry cask you’ve come to expect from Macallan. There’s some berries and Juicy Fruit gum notes mingling with what I can only describe as “wicker basket” wood notes. It turns very dry, very quickly. What happened? The finish is warming, thanks to the near cask strength, but again is mostly buttered sherry lingering on and eventually turning ever so dry. Now, I’ve given this bottle time and multiple tastings and none of these notes have really changed for the better (nor for the worse, thankfully). I have to hold this one up against its successor and it’s a pitiful follow-up. Hell, it’s not a very good Macallan, actually. Thankfully, I didn’t buy any more bottles and my buddy Paul unknowingly took a bottle off of my hands as his Christmas gift (I shipped to him prior to opening my bottle- so I didn’t push this stuff off on him lol). So, I’m left with one bottle I’ll gladly put in the closet towards a possible set (if Macallan continues this series). I hope they recognize this bottle’s faults and don’t allow them to return. As it is, this is a 2-2.25 bottle. Seek out the 2017 version and leave this one for the suckers, my friends. Cheers.

I received a bottle of this 2018 Macallan Classic Cut from my friend @LeeEvolved as a Christmas gift. He gave me a choice between this and I believe the GlenDronach Peated Portwood. Having had the 2017 version and found it quite good, I decided to go with this one. Bottled at 51.2% ABV (which is down significantly from the 2017 version), non chill filtered and natural color of orange amber. The nose starts off with sweet raisins...but then it was like someone flipped a switch and it shifted radically to straight up artificial movie theater popcorn butter topping. You know the stuff, thick, greasy and has that not really butter but kinda smell. That plus a huge hit of sulfur. Very sweet on top of that and quite fruity. Strange oaky notes as well, like the butter and sulfur got into the wood. Grape jelly, strawberry jam, blackberries, cranberries and blueberries. Butter toffee, caramel and vanilla, pie crust. Cashews and perhaps some peanuts. Light maple notes, brown sugar and even a little white chocolate. Letting it sit for a good long while more and more caramel comes out. Water will make it slightly sour if you add too much. Still has those buttery notes but not as bad. More raisins and some faint spices. Baked apples and pears. The palate is full on sherry. Big over the top bright juicy sherry, it really shows it’s youth though. Sulfuric and buttery, like someone melted a stick of butter and a sulfur candle into a bottle of cheap sherry. Ugh. Plenty of caramel and some mint. Tart berries, but still some sweetness, like a berry compote where only 1/4 of the sugar was added. Sherried oak and faint cocoa powder. Raisins and craisins and some light ginger. Not much heat given the ABV, but it lets you know it’s there from time to time. Water doesn’t do much but brings out a little more sweetness and tones down the overall profile. A medium to full bodied mouthfeel that is oily and mouthwatering. The finish is long with sherry, mint tea, caramel, slightly tart and dry. It took me a little over a month to work through this bottle and for the first 2/3 of it those buttery and sulfuric notes were inescapable and a chore to deal with. The last 1/3 still had them, but greatly reduced and the berry notes were able to be more easily enjoyed. Quite a disappointment when compared to its 2017 counterpart, like drinking a cask strength mixed berry jam... not really my kinda thing. A few redeeming qualities in there, but very much overshadowed by those funky notes. Thanks for the gift Lee, it did it’s job and got me good and buzzed on more than one occasion, but I’m throwing in the towel on this 2018 Classic Cut. Cheers

Feels odd to review this a day after their 21 year fine oak (or triple whatever) and it is even odder that going in my expectation is going to award this a significantly higher score. Still, for science lets dig in. Nose - Sweet, bold, sherry, chocolate, caramel, ginger, and there is a fruit candy that is somewhere between a peach and an orange. At the finish you can get some younger oak notes and that doesn't surprise me given that this is likely mostly 6-12 year old whisky. It's however pretty far back and not off putting. Taste - The flavors here are very and I still can't place the fruit. It is a bit of orange but without that citrus bite. There's vanilla. There are some baking christmas spices. Finish - citrus comes out more in the finish and it's long and lingering from the intense alcohol bite. Now with all Macallans we run into more silly...despite the name this isn't actually cask strength. The 2018 being lower abv even comes off more so than the 2017 and you don't get the creamy mouth feel that it could have had. I feel like their random looking abv was intended to fool whisky drinkers and frankly it's just more of their odd marketing. OK, their awful marketing aside how is it overall? This is a very good whisky. I'm going to do the 2017 next and we'll see but I'm finding that they found a way to hide the youth in a very nice way but with even a bit of experience you can tell the difference in well aged whisky and this. Still it's a unique flavor profile and a really good one for me. It's dangerously drinkable and might be one of the best day drinking (on a weekend of course) whiskies around. The complexity is there for a top tier dram but the finish and transitions are much more in line with a far cheaper whisky. 100 bucks - I'd say get it if you like sherry whisky. It's a huge upgrade from the Glendronach batch 7 (tested and proven in a blind taste test), but falls well short of the less expensive Tamduh batch 3 I had in the tasting. 3.0, if this is your wheel house you better go ahead and get it. If not...you need to be someone who spends 200+ on whisky often to make this a gamble.

I believe that the "Classic Cut" name of the bottle comes from Macallan's Marketing strategy of their six pillars and all that stuff, but it should be about Macallan's really classic flavors and aromas. I have seen this bottle a lot of times and never picked it up, since i am not a Macallan Hardcore fan, but now i know i should have done it, specially because this one is the most "Macallan" Whisky Macallan has ever made. If you want to teach people on what a Macallan can offer, a classic Macallan profile, this is the bottle. It checks all the boxes in the "Macallan profile" form. Bottled at 51.2%abv, thick amber color. On the nose: sawdust and chocolate. Maraschino cherries. Cocoa butter, cookie dough, red fruits and more chocolate. Sherry, good old plain sherry. A little soap. Hazelnut, coffee. Second sip reveals some cheap citrus notes, like air freshener. More cherries. On the palate, it is delicious, full, powerful, full of flavor. Starts pretty sweet like chocolate and dulce de leche. Cocoa butter. Then it becomes very mineral. "Crazy dips" effervescence feeling on the palate; pepper, a strong oak spice bomb. Second sip reveals toffee; cinnamon and apples. Very nice. Aftertaste is a textbook Macallan on the first sip. Sawdust, minerals and sulphur, very oaky/ woody. Second and third sip gives you tobacco leaf and hints of a fancy smoke. Beautiful. Overall, i really liked this one, and i would recommend it. I believe it is worth the 118$ they ask for it. A solid, balanced dram, 92 over 100.

#WhiskyReview #96 featuring #Macallan #ClassicCut2018. Bottled at 51.2% ABV (less than prior year’s 58.4% — why?). Aged exclusively in Spanish #Oloroso #sherry casks. Reviewed on 5/17/2019. ....…......….…........................................................................... Nose: 87. Candied ginger and powdered sugar. Ripe figs and nutmeg. Classic Macallan nose but muted and less complex compared to similarly priced and similar ABV content of Edition 2, 3, or 4. Sulfur on the nose like #Macallan12. ....…......….…........................................................................... Palate: 88. Chewy ginger candy and orange milk chocolate. ....…......….…........................................................................... Finish: 87. #ClassicCut2018 finishes with spicy oak and vanilla...and a touch of sulfur. ....…......….…........................................................................... Overall Experience: 87. I appreciate the high ABV, but this expression is not quite as good as #ClassicCut2017. The 2017 was amazing; the 2018 version is a huge let down. ....…......….…........................................................................... VFM: 84. This expression initially sold for $100 USD but I’ve seen prices dropped to $80 (the price I paid). It’s still overpriced for what you get.

A pretty good representation of my preferred profile: quintessential musty, malty, sherried scotch, but Macallan’s ego and/or prestige business model means many similarly enjoyable bottles are available for half the price. Lemon. Dates. Butterscotch. Hint of mace. Glazed scone or maybe some Irish soda bread. Hazelnut. A bit peppery and dances on the palate initially, but this settles out pretty quickly with air. Some vanilla and oak. Very creamy with a pillowy soft lemon curd initial finish that sneaks back up for some lingering nutmeg and Szechuan pepper. Some chocolate - more milk than dark. A bit more assertive than the 12 and also more complex. Definitely more assertive than the 18, but I think this bottle lacks some of the layers and nuance that I find in the very enjoyable but astronomically overpriced 18. I think there is room for this in the portfolio. Not sure how much this changes year to year as it’s the first I’ve tasted. I know Macallan catches well-deserved flak for its price, and potentially-deserved flak for being “not as good as it used to be”, but this one checked the box for me. Flavor is probably 4.25+ to me, but knocked down due to value. Still a quality pour in my book.