Macallan 12 Year...ZAH!

[Vito]

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</td><td>I'm not much of a scotch drinker. It took me years to finish a bottle of The Famous Grouse 21 Year. I've had Glenlivet 12 Year; it was OK, but I never replaced the bottle after it was empty. In bygone years, I tasted Cutty Sark. I remember not liking it much.

Obviously, I make no claim to having a discriminating palate, Scotch-wise. I've actually found Chivas Regal and Johnnie Walker Black Label to be very much to my liking...more so than Glenlivet.

Anyhow, I thought I'd explore some single malts, and I came across Macallan 12 Year, so I thought, what the heck...and I glommed onto a bottle yesterday.

All I can say is "Wow!" :shock:

I've never tasted anything like that. My first reaction was, "I don't get it." I didn't know what to expect, but the descriptions (which say things like, "...hints of sweet cream and vanilla due to aging in used sherry casks from Spain") are bizarre compared to the actual flavors in the glass.

There's something like leather, some smoke, and something else that might be the thing called "peat"...not that I've ever sucked on peat, so I really wouldn't know. I can sort of get the sherry. There's a hint of sweetness that I like, but I've only begun to plumb the depths of this stuff. In any case, I'd have to drink an awful lot of it before I could convince myself there's anything like sweet cream or vanilla in there, but there's much more about this Scotch that bears further exploration.

It's an entirely new experience for me. It bears almost no resemblance to any other Scotch I've ever tasted. But it's really quite remarkable stuff.

I like it. :cheers:

:joker: </td></tr></table>

 

[the rev]

it is one of the smoothest, best tasting wonderful scotchs I have ever tasted. If I had a magic wand it would flow from my tap

rev

 

[Ocelot55]

You know, I've had the 10 and the 15 but not the 12. I might have to remedy this.

 

[Puff Daddy]

How are you drinking it Vito? Your best bet, to get the nuances from it, would be to use a wine glass with a narrow opening ( assuming you don't have a Glencairn glass, which was designed specifically for nosing scotch whisky) and add maybe half a teaspoon of water (start with less, actually) then let it sit for a few minutes. The wine glass because the shape will collect the vapors well at the top, where a regular straight bar glass makes it tough for any vapors to collect. When you tilt the wine glass and allow the alchohol to coat the sides of the glass the vapors given off from that coated glass collect at the narrow top. It's not the liqour in the bottom of the glass that gives off the subtle aromas but the vapors of the alchohol coming off the sides of the glass that are oxidizing with the air and collecting at the top. The very small amount of water added help break down the proteins in the alchohol that relase the smell and flavor in the whisky.

Macallan 12 is pretty good. I love a sherried whisky. I get leather and a dryness on the palate from Macallan, but also a burnt rubber note that comes and goes. Some sherried whiskies give off a lot of orange peel like The Dalmore, which I thought pretty good but a little over priced. Some are real refined (Glenfarclas 18), others kind of rough and leathery.

My three favorites, and those I'd highly suggest to anyone wanting to explore sherried whiskies, are:

Bunnahabhain 12, a sherried Islay whisky that is (reportedly) unpeated, but I get a little smoke in there with the sherry. It is, IMHO, the best standard bottling of a sherried malt out there. Non chill filtered and 46% abv, it's damned impressive stuff.

Aberlour 12 is an affordable ($35 +/-) and very excellent sherried malt and probably wins my best bang for the buck award for sherried whisky.

Aberlour A'Bunadh is a must try. Sold at cask strength (almost 60% abv, it takes a bit of water!) and an absolute sherry bomb!. This stuff is pricey, but amazing.

The Macallan is really good too and a great place to start. Macallan gets a lot of flak these days for being so big and releasing so many highly priced special bottlings, but the fact remains they make a very good standard bottling. If you want to try their unsherried version of the same standard bottling, they have a 10 year Fine Oak, completely matured in ex bourbon casks. Interesting stuff.

Welcome to the dark side 8)

 

[the rev]

puff daddy... can i be your friend?

rev

 

[Vito]

Wow, PD...you know your Scotches, bro'. Thanks for that excellent primer! :cheers:

I'm using a snifter—a short stemmed, tulip-shaped 4" diameter glass whose opening narrows to about 2.5"—just enough to get my schnozz in there. Being an old wino from way, WAY back, the tulip shape is the only kind of glass I will ever use for any boozular substance (...er, except beer). The nose is an immensely important part of the experience for me. I spend more time sniffing than I do swilling.

I splash some spring water into almost all whiskies I drink. The only exceptions (so far) are the Irish whiskies, some of which I like to drink neat because they're so smooth, and with them it's much more about the flavor than the aroma. But Scotch (for me, anyway) requires some water to open up the bouquet. (Is "bouquet" the right word for Scotch? My wino roots are showing... ) I swirl the glass contents to get the "legs" thing happening, and then I stick my schnozzola in there and deathe breeply. Ahhhhh...

There's something familiar yet undefinable in the Macallan 12 Year's aroma. "Burnt rubber" is close, or perhaps it's one part of it. If I had GLP's smellicles I'd already have it nailed. It will haunt me until I figure it out. It's definitely not a "sweet" kind of aroma—certainly not the "vanilla, toffee, and dried fruit" vibes they're claiming in the description on the box. Anyhow, it's fascinating.

I'll look for those others you mentioned. Thanks for the recommendations. I'm not necessarily looking for sherried Scotches. I was just intrigued by the Macallan's description, and it seemed like as good a place to start as any. It had pretty decent reviews, but you know how those go. It's like pipeweed; sometimes you wonder whether maybe they were smoking an entirely different sort of weediferous substance...say, something in the hemp fambly. :twisted: In the end, the only way to know is to try it for yourself. The journey of discovery is the great allure.

:joker:

 

[Puff Daddy]

puff daddy... can i be your friend?

rev

I thought you were

 

[Puff Daddy]

Vito, I figured you already knew most of what I wrote, but there's always the chance of obtaining a nugget here and there.

I believe the accepted term used in scotchular circles is Nose rather than Bouquet.

The thing about sherry's influence in scotch, it's not the sweetness or sherri-ness or any single thing, it's just something that the addition of time in a sherry butt does to malt that creates a sum greater than it's parts sort of thang. Too often you end up with just what you describe, an inability to nail down what it is you're tasting, but it's damned good! Orange, honey, treacle, raisins, baking spices, rubber, etc.. It can give a malt tremendous depth.

 

[Vito]

...It can give a malt tremendous depth.

Yeah...that's what intrigued me about the Macallan 12 Year, PD—the suggestion that it might be something very different from the other Scotches I've tasted. And that's exactly the way it turned out.

I greatly admire depth and complexity in my adult beverages. It's the same reason I'm so smitten by so many Peaseweeds. It's the unfathomable aspect...not being able to unravel the mystery of what there is about it that makes it so compelling.

:joker:

 

[Harlock999]

This is some good stuff gentlemen!
Thanks for the great info!

 

[Slartibartfast]

I love a Speyside and the Macallan Sherry Oak is one of the best IMHO. Lovely stuff.

 

[Vito]

I love a Speyside and the Macallan Sherry Oak is one of the best IMHO. Lovely stuff.

Your post, Brothah Slartibartfast, prompted me to learn a bit more about "The Macallan Portfolio"—the company's name for its product range.

The stuff I've been drinking is in the "Sherry Oak" line, although it's not explicitly identified by that name anywhere on the bottle or the box. Its available bottlings are 10 Year, 10 Year Cask Strength, 12 Year, 18 Year, 25 Year, and 30 Year.

The "Fine Oak" line—all of which are aged in three different types of oak—comprises bottlings of 10, 12, 15, 17, 18, 21, 25, and 30 years.

You know, I've had the 10 and the 15 but not the 12. I might have to remedy this.

Apparently, Brothah Ocelot55, the 10 Year scotch you've had was one of three different types: 10 Year or 10 Year Cask Strength in the Sherry Oak line, or 10 Year in the Fine Oak line. Just curious...do you recall which? It would seem that the 15 Year was in the Fine Oak line. It's the only 15 Year bottling listed on Macallan's website.

The rest of the lines are special collections and special bottlings that range from various designer boozes to a line of vintage bottlings going back to 1926. I couldn't find any of the 1926 vintage online, but I did find some of the 1937 bottling, which sells for a scant $19,157 per bottle. I'm sure it's a fair price for those with the appropriate budget. I'm equally certain they did not produce that particular whiskey for me.

:joker:

 

[Ocelot55]

Vito, I had the fine oak, and now it all makes sense, because that's about the only flavour that dominated. I remember telling a fellow who was just getting into Scotch that if he wanted to know what "oak" flavour was supposed to taste like he needed to pick up a bottle of MaCallan 10. I hope he didn't pick up a 10 year old from another range. I bet he'd be really confused then!

 

[puros_bran]

There's something familiar yet undefinable in the Macallan 12 Year's aroma. "Burnt rubber" is close, or perhaps it's one part of it.

:fpalm:

 

[Harlock999]

Ok.
Picked up a bottle of this a few nights ago, (the store was out of Laphraoig).
Wow! It is different, and I started laughing when that "burnt rubber" note hit my nose!
It's also very mildly sulphuric, or rotten egg like, and like PD pointed out, it kind of comes and goes. The main aroma is raisin and other dried fruits, for me at least. For a change, the description on the box seemed to be spot on. The fruit notes really translate to the flavor.
Paired nicely with some Manchego cheese, and pistachios.
Probably won't be a regular drink for me, but definitely a good change up.

 

[Slartibartfast]

The Balvenie Double Wood 12 year is an excellent follow-up to the Macallan Sherry Oak - both are supremely smooth and excellent baseline Speysides IMO. Enjoy!

 

[Vito]

I'm nearing the end of the Macallan 12, so it's time to go adventuring again. I appreciate all the recommendations.

Alas, due to...er, "current budgetary constraints" (engendered by a recent massive pu-erh tea restocking :twisted: ), I'm going for the Aberlour 12 recommended by PD. But the others — Bunnahabhain 12, Aberlour A'Bunadh, and Balvenie Double Wood 12 — are all on the wish list.

 

[tzakiel]

I think Macallan 12 is good, but I've been enjoying Glenmorangie 10 and Highland Park 12 a little more. They are both different but neither are peaty.

 

[Vito]

I worked my way through that bottle of Aberlour 12 in no time. It's phenomenally smooth stuff. Then I killed a bottle of Balvenie Doublewood 12. Unquestionably good stuff, but it didn't impress me as much as either the Macallan or the Aberlour.

Just for the hell of it, I picked up a bottle of Trader Joe's Highland Single Malt 10 Year yesterday. I figured it was worth the $20 cost of admission just to see what it's like. I can't say I have the most discriminating palate when it comes to Scotch, but I've been drinking some good ones lately, and the TJ's Highland Single Malt 10-year easily holds its own with them. It's well worth the sticker price.

It's produced by Alexander Murray & Co. of Aberdeen, which provides private label spirits to the U.S., sourcing them from brand name distilleries. (Costco's "Kirkland" brand 17-year old Scotch was actually produced by Macallan, and supplied by Alexander Murray.)

Highland Park seems to come very highly recommended from all sides. That's probably next on the list.

 

[Puff Daddy]

Aberlour 12, probably the best sherried dram under $40.

If you like the peaty, smokey stuff, try the Finlaggin at Trader Joes. Rumor has it it's a young Lagavulin, and it's under $20.