Today independent Macallan with sherry and age statements


July 17, 2023

summer

WF's Summer Duets
Today independent Macallan with sherry and age statements

We won't have any of those ex-Edrington 'blended malts' or 'blended Scotch' that are wandering throughout the market and our shelves, rather some proper 'Macallan' proudly bearing the name of the distillery. Isn't it always better to know whether it is proper beef or horsemeat?

Macallan 14 yo 2008/2022 (56.5%, Whiskyfind Japan for Chagata Park, sherry, cask #2022, 340 bottles)

This baby should be pretty close to classic Macallan, that is to say properly sherried Macallan (nah we won't mention mosto or paxarette – or brandy). Colour: gold, so no heavy sherry. Nose: this one's ridden with walnut stain, green walnuts, bark, mustard, bone-dry vermouth, then weissbeer, clay, earth, tomato leaves and quite some peanut butter… It's an austere Macallan so far. With water: cakes, scones, brioches and biscuits coming out and making it rounder and gentler. Lovely maltiness from the wee stills. Mouth (neat): awesome bitter and austere Macallan indeed, with eggplants and artichokes, acidic coffee, green walnuts again, mustard once more, and dry white vermouth yet again. With water: it is another whisky, with sweeter pastries, raisin rolls, halva and nougat, mocha, indeed walnut cake and wine, plus a tiny idea of a salty/mustardy manzanillaness. See what I mean. Finish: rather long, greatly fattish and almost oily (Macallan), malty. The usual marmalade in the aftertaste. Comments: top Macallan, complex, appropriately fat and, well, malty.
SGP:551 - 90 points.

Macallan 30 yo 1993/2023 (49.8%, Halcyon Spirits, 1st fill sherry, 238 bottles)

A brand new independent bottler with great ambitions, kicking it all off with a disclosed 30 years old Macallan. That's what we call panache, even if we've got strictly nothing against STRised 8 yo Mannochmores or rejuvenated 10 yo Secret Speysides. On the contrary! Colour: amber. Nose: there's one Macallan that I'll always keep in my mind, it is the older 30 years old blue-label/blue-box, despite all the fakes that abound. This is similar. Wonderful nuttiness, a wee buttery – not butyric - side that's adding texture to the nose, plus a lot of citrus, from kumquats to citrons, and raisins, figs and dates. I'll say it, it's pretty much liquid fruitcake this far. Tiny touches of pipe tobacco, cured ham and prunes popping out after a few minutes. Mouth: it does saponify a wee bit as soon as you get it in your mouth, only to get then rounder although closer to tea and oak, with dry spices, coffee beans, dark chocolate and just torrefaction. Chewing honeycomb, A.K.A. the beekeepers' chewing gum. Orange blossom water. Finish: long and more on triple-sec, coffee and figs, which I find very Macallan too. Clove in the aftertaste. Comments: 1993 clearly was a great vintage for malt whisky, no ideas why. It cannot only be a matter of brilliant parcels of casks made available, as many different distilleries have produced some marvellous 1993s. Hold on, perhaps a matter of sherry casks? The soap/saponification that first happened on the palate was a tad frightening, but it quietly went away and it all became a bed of… coffee, honey and figs. Superb Macallan as in 'Macallan'.
SGP:461 - 91 points.

(Thank you Chris)

Check the index of all Macallan we've tasted so far