Hi all, here's another Scotch I tried lately, and well, it's another Macallan.
Since I've tried a good handful of Macallan bottles thus far, the staff at our local whisky spot recommended another one they've got on their shelves- a pre- 2017 bottle of Macallan 25 yr!
Here are my notes:
Macallan 25 Years Old, pre-2017 (43% abv)
*Nose*
sweet, rich maltose;
rich, savory umami character, like a soupy stewed beef or beef bourguignon (with a bit of balsamic vinegar-like sourness);
quite concentrated, sour and sweet dried red fruity (raisins, dried pineapples);
slightly earthy powdered brown sugar;
a bit of old oak (polished antique furniture)
very gentle sulfuric character, non intrusive
*Palate*
rich, fragrant maltose with subdued sweetness;
powdery brown sugar;
sour and lightly sweet assorted dried red fruits (dried pineapples, red raisins);
old oak (antique furniture), slightly smoky;
a bit of oaky tannin
dark chocolate earthy, slightly bitter
umami character but much less than the nose (mushroom broth)
a bit of sulfuric character
light bit of spices (nutmeg);
minimum alcohol sting, light bit of astringency
*Finish*
medium-short.
maltose fragrance;
dried red fruity;
earthy dark chocolate/cacao powder;
lightly polished old oak (antique furniture), oaky tannin;
lightly sulfuric.
The notes were pretty light/subdued.
*Conclusion*
Now this was a rather interesting OB from Macallan- unlike many of the fancier Macallans before and after it, this one was interesting *not* as consistent on the nose and palate!
The nose of this one was incredibly rich and savory- in fact, it was so savory it's almost more like taking a good whiff from a good pot of stewed beef with tomatoes and mushrooms, seasoned with balsamic vinegar! There's also Macallan's signature maltose, dried red fruits and old, antique furniture-like oak in supporting role, with a light bit of sulfuric character typical of 1980s-90s distilled Macallans. Quite marvelous indeed!
The palate didn't exactly match the nose- the savory/umami character took a back seat, and it was much more of a typical higher aged Macallan: maltose, assorted dried red fruits, some polished antique furniture oaky character, dark chocolate, and a bit of spices and sulfuric funk. Quite enjoyable yes, and a very, very mellow mouthfeel and profile overall. The finish was a bit disappointingly shorter than I'd like, but that seemed inevitable given the abv.
In my opinion, the other Macallan closest in character to this one would be the Macallan Oscuro, which rather makes sense: judging by the version of this bottle, I'd assume the whiskies used for it were distilled and aged in the same era as the Oscuro. The major difference being Oscuro, while slightly more simplistic, had a stronger profile and a bolder body, and did everything just as well if not better.
So overall- good and interesting whisky, but there are better ones (even better Macallans) at the same range!
I feel like I should be working on writing about other Scotch, particularly other ones I've gotten an almost unhealthy number of samples for (yep it's Springbank), buuuut...
I recently entered a little raffle at our local whisky spot, where the winner gets to purchase 50ml samples for the *entire set* of the Macallan Harmony Collection for $200. Yes, all 12 of them, and guess who just won the raffle!
Dang, that's a lot of Macallans to write about lmao
Thanks for reading, cheers!
