Macallan Edition No. 6

Review #098 Type: single malt scotch Proof: 48.6% Comments: NAS, comprised of spirit from 1st-fill Tevasa butts and hogsheads, 1st-fill HMM hogsheads, 2nd-fill refill butts, and 1st-fill Vasyma butts Tasted after: first up Appearance (no score): Mahogany color. Swirling reveals a thin line sticking to the side of the glass, legs are slow to form. Nose: 18/20 Very sweet and fruity, full of Rainer cherries, ripe plums, and sticky figs. There’s also some freshly ground coffee and milk chocolate, accompanied by even more subtle hints of ginger and cinnamon. Really enjoyable! Palate: 35/40 It starts sweet again on the palate, but very little fruit this time, instead it’s brown sugar, sweet pastries, and dark chocolate. There’s some cinnamon, oak spice, walnuts, and orange peel to balance it out, flavors which become more evident on subsequent sips. Finish: 34/40 Long finish. Starts with a sweet dollop of berry jam and orange citrus, slowly becomes less sweet as a little chili pepper heat arises, along with the flavors of walnuts, oak spice, and toasted bread emerge. Yet it retains an interesting creamy sensation throughout. There’s a moment just at the end where I’m tasting buttermilk waffles! Finally it ends on a stony mineral note. With Water: A few drops of water brings out some fresh floral notes on nose. Not much change to the palate, but on the finish I’m tasting a little fresh ginger, and the ending note has been replaced with cough syrup. Total: 87/100 Final thoughts: This is an exceptional representation of what Macallan is capable of. I really like the spirit they produce, especially in a good sherry maturation at a +46% ABV, such as this. The problem is they don’t generally release anything that checks both boxes, especially not at anything close to a reasonable price point. I’m incredibly glad I purchased this bottle when I found it a few years ago, in fact at the price it was selling it I should have grabbed a second. Unfortunately now this limited edition bottle is a collector’s item. While it’s really good, and I would recommend and would buy below $200, it’s simply not worth the $400-500 I see it going for nowadays. Price: $185 Would recommend: maybe Would buy: maybe Scoring Legend: 96-100: The perfect dram, absolutely exceptional, nectar of the gods, I will savor this bottle and make it last, 5 stars. 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky, 4.75 stars. 85-89: Very good to amazing, almost the complete product, 4.5 stars. 80-84: Quite good, very enjoyable to drink, but doesn’t wow me, 4.25 stars. 75-79: Good, enjoyable but ultimately flawed, unlikely to purchase again, 4 stars. 70-74: A solid dram, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it, 3.75 stars. 55-69: Drinkable, 3.5-2.75 stars. Below 55: Suitable for cooking or direct contribution to the kitchen sink drain, 2.5 stars or less.

So here it is the final number in the Macallan number series. Each year Macallan picks a different color for their release and the colors of the series are 1-Brown, 2- Orange, 3- Yellow, 4-Green, 5- Purple and final number 6-Blue. It seems to me that Macallan was trying to make themselves their own infinity stone bottle selection, but decided to change one color, brown instead of red for number 1, so as to not get sued by Marvel for stealing their color selection. So now that I am about to finish my quest for trying every infinity bottle, here’s hoping for some super powers after tasting or better yet maybe just some really great whiskey. On the nose, the first smell is overwhelming me with spices of nutmeg, cloves, but the second whiff shows baked cinnamon apples, chocolate covered raisins, orange zest, walnuts, sour cherries and vanilla cupcake. So far so good, with one exception being a faint off-note hinting at sulfur. Then on to the tasting: a medium mouthfeel with no burn, sulfur, golden raisins, chocolate, cinnamon apples, walnuts, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla cupcake that finishes with a medium length and notes of cinnamon apples, chocolate covered caramel and golden raisins. Overall this isn’t a great one, I like a lot of the notes in it, but there is a lot of spice and sulfur that overwhelm a lot of the flavors. I was hoping this would be the best of the series, but I feel like number 5 was my favorite. Plus, after the tasting and completion of the series, I tried to snap my fingers at the end hoping to rescue some of those Ardbeg barrels that met an untimely death to make An Oa that @ScotchingHard pointed out in his review. Sadly it did not work, maybe someone out there with all the infinity bottles can open their collection, pour them into a blend, take a sip and try it for me.

It’s been an interesting run with the Macallan Limited Edition series. I missed the first, loved the second, thought the next two were okay, and then had my interest revitalized with the stellar No. 5. With this, I’ve got the final installment, and the tiebreaker that will determine whether or not I remember this line favorably or not. Nose: Apple, pear, plum, apricot, and orange. Vanilla, caramel, and toffee. Cherry. Butterscotch, brown sugar, sugar cookie, and honey. Raisin, date, and fig. Red grape, cranberry, and plum. Sawdust, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and oak. Palate: More of the apple, pear, orange citrus. Plum, red grape, cranberry, raisin, date, and fig. Velvety and plush. Blackberry. Vanilla and milk chocolate ice cream cake. Toffee, caramel, sugar cookie, butterscotch, and honey. Cola and a touch of leather. Almond, walnut, and chestnut. Oak. Finish: Plum, date, fig, and raisin. Apple, pear, apricot, and orange. Blackberry. Caramel, vanilla, and milk chocolate. Black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Medium-long finish. This is a damn fine whisky. In terms of quality, this leans more in the direction of the 2 and 5 that I enjoyed so much. At $150, it cost $50 and $40 than each of those respectively. I would say that this was still worth the squeeze, but it’s outclassed in terms of VFM. And there it is. The end of the line for Macallan special edition run, barring some miracle that presents me a reasonably priced bottle of the No. 1. Is the series worth the hype? Perhaps not. And it definitely doesn’t warrant the second-hand pricing. But three of the five I tried were damn fine whiskies, and the other two were good (though not $100 good.) In retrospect this is a fine series. Thanks for the ride Macallan. 4.25/5.

I will start this review with my conclusion: in a blind tasting event, i would have guessed this dram was a Glenkinchie 12 or an Auchentoshan 12. It is not bad, but if you are going to pay +150 dollars for a Macallan limited edition you expect more than the universal tasting notes of whisky of Caramel and vanilla. Macallan edition No.6 is the last of the collection, this time it pays homage to the river Spey, its biodiversity and influence in the flavor of half of Scotland's distilleries. The light blue label is mostly unreadable and imposible to take a picture to brag about your finding in Instagram hahahaha. Bottled at 48.6% (0.01% more than the previous edition), tawny color. On the nose, it is very good. Milky way chocolate, orange leaf, caramel, cinnamon, dulce de leche, nutmeg. It also has this library-wet books profile. After a first sip it gave me pizza hut's cinnamon sticks, a cinnamon candle, sawdust, honey and floral notes. On the palate it was too simple. Caramel and sugar syrup, pepper and sulphuric, and Kellog's frosted flakes. Aftertaste was boring. Chocolate with dulce de leche, caramel, butterscotch and some herbal notes. Some saltiness present. Overall, this one did not meet my expectations. It felt way too simple, i did not find any real thing to make me feel as something that pays homage to the Spey river (known for fruitier whiskies), it felt like a fancy bourbon cask on a very normal Macallan. Not bad at all, it is not what you bought it for. I believe this and the No. 2 edition are the worst of the series, being number 4 the best one. Forget this one, or buy it to complete a collection that in 10 years will be worth a lot more, but drink something more interesting. My score for it is a 79 over 100.

Nose - Rich vanilla, toasted ginger, toffee, dried apples, persimmons, candied ginger, hint of orange zest, plums, sweet riesling Taste - Gentle sweet ginger & honey tea, light tea/oak bitterness, light bitter orange pith, light bitter dark chocolate, vanilla simple, dried persimmons Finish - Lingering light metallic fruity bitter, honey sweetened tea, candied ginger, light toasted/charred ginger bitterness Score - 85/100 Final Thoughts - The nose on this one is quite fantastic really. It's complex, composed, and actually noses like it might contain some older Scotch in it. It has this pleasant "must" that I only get from older Scotches that makes me think of a dusty old cask that's been sitting in a warehouse aging for decades. The initial palate is nice, but then it picks up this slightly odd fruity metallic note that I sometimes get from dried fruits. It's not off-putting, but it's noticeable. The toasted ginger notes are nice and provide this nice gentle sweetness without the heat. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - Not at the price it's at NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

The nose has those typically sweet fruity notes you expect from Macallan. The palate carries over those dark fruits but adds some honey and chocolate coupled with lovely Christmas cake notes. The finish is long with some nuttiness and ginger coming through along with a slightly bitter citrus note. A few drops of water reduces the bitterness and enhances the chocolate notes. It’s a perfect Christmas dram. Criticisms? Yes, there are some: It’s a little thin on the mouthfeel, you won’t be able to justify the price so don’t try, the Classic Cut releases are cheaper and probably better. But . . . . . If you love Macallan, or need to complete your collection of this series, or just want to splurge for Christmas, then go grab a bottle. As whisky fans, we don’t always have to substantiate the cost/value proposition. Sometimes we buy whiskies because we want to; simple as that. 88/90.