Macallan Estate

This seems to be a standalone NAS, not part of the order NAS line or the current one. If it sounds like a random purchase, that’s because it was. I vaguely remember trying it a whiskey tasting and putting it on my list when this came out several years ago. Well, here it is. Nose: Classic Macallan. Milk chocolate and orange citrus. Vanilla, toffee, and butterscotch. There’s almost a molasses sweetness here. Pencil shaving and tangerine come in light I’m going in pretty much blind in terms of backstory with this one, but I’m getting plum, raisin, fig, date, and red grape that indicates sherry. That’s expect of Macallan, but I know they’ve gotten away from their standard formula in recent years. Apple, pear, and apricot in the background, along with some oak. Palate: Milk chocolate, orange and tangerine citrus, and vanilla once again. It’s like fruit and cake for dessert. The apple, pear, and apricot are more at the forefront of the palate. Honey, toffee, and malt. More plum, fig, date, raisin, and plum. A touch of honeydew. Finish: Milk chocolate, orange and tangerine citrus, and vanilla once again. Toffee, malt, and honey. Golden raisin, fig, date, and plum. Ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, and oak. Moderate-long finish. This is a nice, easy-going whisky. It is a good representative of the Macallan profile during the “Edition series.” It drinks cleaner than any of them, and while it doesn’t pop in any one direction, is probably the most balanced Macallan I’ve ever had. Now, I have to consider VFM. Judged purely on quality, this is an undeniably solid malt. But when I consider I can get three bottles of some top-notch Scotch for what this one ran me, I’ve got to take that into account. At $275, this is perfectly pleasant, but doesn’t stand out in any way. 3.75/5. It’s a 4.0 star whisky if I didn’t know the cost. It really is very good. Something you’d like to pour into a decanter to impress people that are—worth impressing—if you do that sort of thing. And for the most part, it delivered. Cost hurts this. Yet, it is undoubtedly a fine representation of the Macallan flavor profile. I wouldn’t buy it again, but it’s certainly worth a go if you can snag yourself a pour. Cheers.

I’m always intrigued when a distillery decides to utilize a different barley in their production as it tends to produce slight variances outside of their traditional profile. Bruichladdich has conducted a few experiments with different barleys that yielded different results, some I found better than others and my favorite has been the farm to bottle Octomore’s X.3 editions where the barley is sourced from a single farm. So next up in my exploration through some of Macallan’s releases, I have a sample of their Estate which was made with barley grown on the Macallan estate and was bottled at 43% ABV. The nose starts with a mix of sour lemon, candied ginger and mild barnyard funk then cocoa powder dusted prunes, light minerality and toasted hazelnuts followed by mildly sour grapes, sautéed apples and orange zest that transition to light baking spices and mildly bitter black tea with low ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with sweet tropical fruits before a moderate bitter and sour spice that slowly fades sour lemon, candied ginger and charred hay bales then cocoa powder dusted prunes, espresso and toasted hazelnuts followed by pineapple, Granny Smith apple peel and orange zest that transition to light baking spices and mildly bitter black tea with low ethanol burn. The finish is short with sour grapes, mango, cocoa powder covered prunes, black pepper, ginger and mildly bitter black tea. For me, this seems like a youthful, thin spirit that turned out around average with a nose that is predominantly sour with a light farmyard funk and mild bitter tea that the taste improves slightly over the nose with sweet tropical fruits before a bitter sour spice overwhelms those fruits and veers towards the sour profile found on the nose and finishes rather sour with a light tropical fruit preventing it from being overwhelmingly along with mild bitter tea. At the cost of nearly $275 near me, this isn’t one I’d be interested in purchasing a full bottle of anytime soon and would be perfectly happy with many other lower cost options that I find to provide a better experience.

Nose- candied ginger, caramel, lemons, cedar wood, cinnamon Palate- Bursting flavors of lemon initially, ginger, wood spice, figs Finish- long, tasty finish with bright citrus and a creamy mouthfeel Really, really nice. Quite complex on the nose and palate. This whisky evolves as you drink it, a quality that I enjoy. I love the ginger notes that i’m used to with macallan, but the estate addition really focused on them. The wood spice dominates a bit at points, but it’s mingled in well with bright citrus and caramel.

The nose of this scotch is filled with sweet sherry and has strong oak and mineral undertones. It is creamy and silky on the tongue with flavors of sweet dark fruits, like dates, a warming spice, and just a touch of tannic bitterness to rein in the sweetness. The finish is woody with a warming spice.

Hardly a challenge to the 18 yo Sherry Cask which retails at the same price point. I was looking for words to describe this dram until C picked up the glass, smelled and concluded: This lacks a bit of body. I can't hardly disagree with her. As always.

A nice and elegant dram with notes of raisins, walnuts, almonds, hazlenuts, cashews, bitter oranges, dark chocolate, pepper, baking spices, toffee, vanilla, citrus, and prunes. Wish it was a bit thicker on palate.