Macallan Edition No. 5

After being disappointed by Editions 3 and 4, I was not sold on this line. Ed. No. 2 restored my faith in the series. That brings us to the latest installment. I bought it for $10 more than the rest, though I've seen it for some pretty prices (one store even has it at $200.) Was 2 a fluke or will Mac redeem their two previous average efforts? Let's find out. Nose: Sherry heavy. Plum, date, fig, prune, raisin, red grape. Plenty of vanilla, honey, marshmallow, and toffee. Milk chocolate and salted caramel. Apple, pear, orange, and apricot add additional fruit influence. It's floral, and there's a bit of lemon in there, too. Clove, nutmeg, and oak. Good start. Palate: More plum, grape, and raisin. Pomegranite and acai berry. The apple, orange, pear, and apricot notes are now balanced with the dark fruit notes, which took a strong lead on the nose. Especially orange, and orange peel. More of the milk chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and toffee. Bittersweet blackberry and tangy lime notes appear on the mid-palate. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and oak. Quite similar to the nose, and just as good and with a greater balance between the dark fruit notes that dominated the nose and the rest of the notes. Finish: The dry red fruit hits hard right off the bat. Plum, cranberry, fig, date, raisin, prune, pomegranite, acai berry. Orange and lime. More of the cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, and oak spice that round out a long finish. Fantastic effort. Puts the series right back on track for me. I came into this tasting with a score of 4.25 in mind. But I'm deeply impressed with this one. I'll compare to the Ed. 2 (again) and 18 Y.O. Sherry oak to better frame my score, but I'm absolutely loving this one. Score may improve. Macallan seems to think that this was a great effort, as well. I purchased this one as soon as it hit the market for $110. That's $10 more than I paid for 2-4. Now, I regularly see this for $20-$40 higher--including at the store I originally got it at. With Macallan products, there seems to be a never-ending tug-a-war between value and quality. Compared to 2-4, this has quality. Only 2 is arguably better quality, and you can't say it's a better value because you can't buy it at retail price anymore (if you can, please contact me immediately.) Variables aside, this is a superb whisky. The 18, Ed. 2, and Ed. 5 are my last three Macallan reviews, and they have restored my faith in the product. If you can still find this for a reasonable price, grab this up before it's gone.

I have said this at least a dozen times, you know im not a Macallan fan, i have had some excelent, normal and bad ones. Actually i have had the 5 editions, and hated No. 2, liked 1 and 3 and loved No. 4. What im trying to say here is that i believe that i do not fall for Macallan's Marketing Hype as other people do; nor i trash talk it just to be internet cool. I try to be objective about my hobby: reviewing whisky. Having said all that, this one is a very good whisky, that has one of the best aromas i have ever found on a dram. Edition No. 3 was supposed to have the best aroma, since it was selected by a perfume maker. That one doesn't even come close to edition No. 5's Aroma. Lets review this dram: First, this edition is a tribute to Macallan's original whisky color, and they actually with the Pantone Color Institute to get a special shade of purple that represent Macallan. It's on the box. Bottled at 48.5%abv, tawny color. On the nose, best aroma in the whisky world. At least one of my top 5 whisky aromas ever. I did a tasting event and everyone agreed. It is just spectacular. Here are my notes on it: Grapes. Very floral, resembles a japanese whisky. Very winey. Honey hard candy. Sawdust. Incredibly perfumed. Chocolate, toffee, honey, hazelnut, nutella, TEMPERA PAINT, dates, red fruits. Second sip reveals blackberries, full caramel. Third sip, floral and red fruits. It is just crazy. You really don't need to drink it, you can just smell it. The rest of the dram is good, nothing super amazing, but good. Strawberries, blackberries, sugary, dried fruits; molasses. A little bittersweet. Herbal and caramel notes. Abv is high enough to give you a decent, powerful flavor. Aftertaste is where classic Macallan notes appear. Sawdust, oak, sulphur, minerals, salt. A little burn, aniseed, hazelnut and pie crest. A little dry. Overall i can compare this whisky to David Beckham's football career: handsome and perfumed but gets dirty when needed. I really liked it, and i will give you my individual scores for every part of it: Nose: 26 over 25 points. (Yes, i had to reward it one point over the limit since it deserves it). Palate: 22 over 25. Aftertaste: 21 over 25. Balance: 22 over 25. So 91 over 100. That is really a fair score for it. Sláinte!

Finishing up my reviews of the Macallan Edition series with this year’s release, Edition No. 5, courtesy of @LeeEvolved. This newest edition is bottled at 48.5% ABV and is non chill filtered and natural color of amber. This particular Macallan uses a high proportion of ex bourbon barrels, and it shows. Even though all of the casks were sherry seasoned, the first note I got on the nose was bourbon, and a lot of it. The American oak really stands out and delivers a ton of sweetness. Copious amounts of vanilla, caramel and brown sugar. The sherry starts to come through a little with golden raisins, chocolate and sweet grapes. There was something that kept me wondering for a while, and then all of a sudden it hit me...kettle corn. First time I’ve ever gotten that and it was very interesting. Donut glaze, powdered sugar. If smells could rot your teeth this would carry a warning from the American Dental Association. Peaches & cream, vanilla custard, sweet oaky notes. After it sits a good long while I started to get apples and pears as well. The palate had a somewhat sweet entry, followed by a surprisingly spicy arrival. Very oaky with lots of wood spice. Again, way more bourbon than sherry. Slightly astringent. Vanilla, a bit sour, and that odd kettle corn note from the nose. A little barrel char, aromatic, a touch floral and some hay. Little to no sherry presence, some orange peel, but nothing else in the way of fruits. A little salt and chocolate, but way too much oak. A medium to full bodied mouthfeel that is astringent, mouthwatering, then dry. The finish is medium long with oak, bourbony oak, tannic oak, clove and ginger. I really enjoyed the nose on this one for how oddly sweet it was and that unique kettle corn note, but the palate completely undermined that enjoyment. It’s as if they created this whisky solely on the nose alone, smelled the end result and said, that’s perfect, no need to taste it, I’m sure it’s fine. The palate was overly harsh and way over oaked. The worst of the Edition series I’ve had. It’s not even recognizable as a Macallan. I’d give the nose a 4, but the palate struggles to get past a 2.75 or 3 at best. So for that I will give it a 3.25. Cheers

Welp my least respected distillery, but people keep raving about this to me. Lets find out how disappointing this is. Nose - fruity, baking spices, vanilla, surprisingly heavy amounts of sherry given the casks used. The sherry is almost reaching into a white grape juice level of sweetness. Taste - tired casks. Oak, muted, and off. There are nice sherry notes, some good vanilla oak, but the overall combination is really awful. I mean this is legit awful. There's too much oak, it's astringent, it's bitter, drying. Welp, macallan never disappoints anymore. Every bottle is worse than the last. Makes me sad given how good their stuff used to be and how most of that has vanished from the shelves. Giving this is a 1 star. It's not bad, but there's nothing good about this. I really can't find anything nice or good to say about it, but it's drinkable, you'll be perfectly happy to have a glass of this if it's free. But beyond that...why would you not drink a good whisky? A good whisky that costs 1/10 as much.... Edit - changed my mind. The nose is actually good on this. It's just a pathetic effort to blend a good whisky.

Nose - Fruity raisin-y caramel, hint of candied ginger, candied orange peel, toffee, dark apple juice Taste - Spicy candied ginger, candied orange peels, toffee, milk chocolate, prunes, dark raisins, M&M candy shell sweet? Finish - Lingering candied ginger spice, candied orange peels, orange sugar coated jelly candy?, plain M&Ms, weird metallic fruity sweet Score - 74/100 Final Thoughts - So this one was a bit interesting in that it didn't really taste like the standard Macallan profile of a nicely sherried Scotch. This had more of a candied fruit vibe to it with a hint of raisins/prunes. Interesting nose that carries over to the palate but the finish has this weird metallic fruity sweet that I find a bit off-putting. Overall it's pretty decent, but the finish kind of kills it. The longer I wait, the more metallic & strange sweet I get from this and it's a bit distracting. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - No Would I buy a bottle? - Not another

Explosion of vanilla on the nose, from an alcohol-soaked dessert (like a cream baba or a malaga), drop of honey, raisins, cinnamon, candied orange. Alcohol does not give room in time, while always remaining tied to the pastry vocation of whisky. On the palate it is practically a cake distillate, even more than on the nose, oriented on the English soup with a massive presence of orange and vanilla cream, with alcohol that gives a light liveliness but without overdoing it. Linear in the aromas, without any significant variation, even letting it breathe. Medium length finish, with raisins, vanilla, hazelnut. This whisky evokes images from an English tea room, with upright ladies munching creamy desserts with silver forks, mulling over the latest news from the Royal Family. Rather simple and clean, does't present much evolution or complexity, it offers what it promises, a pleasant drink and nothing more.