Tastes

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Sherry, dried fruit, sweet, butterscotch Palate: Sweet, sherried, cinnamon, puff pastry Finish: Medium long finish. Dried fruit, sultanas, vanilla Very thin mouthfeel, but tasty enough for it. Easy to drink, nothing to challenge you but it's definitely OK. Pleasant and unassuming, but you're unlikely to get too excited about it. This whisky was tasted blind on the tasting. There's a lot of snobbery in the whisky community and Macallan get's a bit of a backlash from some. The organisers of the tasting had tried to get a true reflection of people's thoughts for this Macallan before letting us know what we had been drinking. Quite an interesting experiment overall. The general feeling was that it was unremarkable, generally OK but not very interesting. I think that's a fair reflection, you'd be happy enough to drink this one, but not one you'd look out for to have a bottle. Came joint last out of the six drams, with 0% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 31% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Sweet, strawberry jam, kids sweets Palate: 'Hot', citrus, orange, baking spice. Spirit heavy, black pepper, chillies, cereal, nutty Finish: Long finish. Vanilla, alcohol, fruit, white pepper. Numbing on the palate. 1 of 372 bottles Distilled: October 2013 Bottled: May 2022 Refill hogshead Very young tasting, spirit heavy, spicy/peppery dram. Not too complex, lots of sweet fruit notes in amongst the fiery spirit. Generally OK. Came joint third out of the six drams, with 8% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 42% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

Nose: Bacon, peat, caramel Palate: BBQ meats, salt, tart fruit, baked orchard fruit, gristy Finish: Short finish. Tannic, black tea, baked fruit, wisps of peat This is not a good whisky. BBQ, sweet, gristy, salty - all sounds good, but not here! There's a problem with balance, nothing in this is in the right proportions to be an enjoyable dram. Just no...

Nose: Demerara sugar, orange, light dried fruit Palate: Fruit/berry jam, black tea, dark chocolate, cinnamon, Chomp strips (Scottish kids sweets from the 70s/80s) Finish: Medium finish. Hershey's chocolate, dusty/chalky, mineral, baking spices. Sherried. Cheap dusty chocolate powder, caramel, cinnamon, and fruit jam. Easy to drink, fruity, chocolatey and sherried. Tasty and unassuming - a session dram.

Nose: Dried fruit, ginger, hints of musty dampness Palate: Chocolate, dried fruit (dates and raisins), tobacco, sandalwood, char/ash Finish: Medium finish. Sweet, wood, vanilla, dark chocolate, leather Simple, slightly thin, chocolate and dried fruit dram. Not at all complex, but perfectly drinkable - if ultimately forgettable.

Nose: Floral, fruit - berries, jam, chocolate, cinnamon Palate: Salted caramel, glace cherries, toasted nuts, wood, tannic, black pepper. Strong alcohol. Finish: Medium long finish. Creamy mouthfeel, baking spices, cinnamon, citrus/orange, toasted oak/ burned wood 1 of 643 bottles Cask No: 69290 Single refill puncheon Woody, sweet and spicy. Tastes every one of it's 59.9% ABV. Opens up with a touch of water to give more oak and vanilla, tannins and berry fruitiness. This is a decent, spirit forward, cask strength dram.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 22 July 2022). Nose: Light peat, light smoke char, salt, green Palate: Hot upfront which quickly dissipates. Gentle peat, salt, iodine, smoke heavy, oak char, sweet dried fruit. Finish: Long finish. Char, smoke, leather, green, earthy, damp. This is all about the char and smoke. A little one dimensional, but tasty enough. Cask No: 3814010829 Bottle: 244/352 Distilled: October 2014 Bottled: May 2022 Came fourth out of the six drams, with 12% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 88% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 22 July 2022). Nose: Mexican mole’ paste, savoury BBQ, salt/saline Palate: Sweet, BBQ sauce, charred meat, oak chips, Frazzles crisps, peat and a little farmyard Finish: Long finish. Peat, char, dark chocolate, earthy, sweet and savoury, leather. 1 of 235 bottles Ex Islay Bourbon cask Peaty and meaty. Not a bad damp, peated whisky. Nicely layered throughout. Came second out of the six drams, with 24% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 71% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 22 July 2022). Nose: Hairspray, dark toffee, stone fruit, vanilla, damp moss Palate: Intense, burnt toffee caramel, chilli peppers, clove, allspice, butter, padron peppers. Buttery and savoury. Finish: Long finish. Buttery mouthfeel, charred/burnt caramel, umami, savoury pastry, treacle and Demerara sugar notes. Ruby port cask Distilled 2007, bottled in 2021 This is a heavy, weighty dram. Intense, caramel, charred/burnt but a buttery savoury mouthfeel. A very nice dram, but one or two is probably enough. Came joint fifth out of the six drams, with 0% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 35% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 22 July 2022). Nose: Orange, lemon, light spice, dried fruit, sweet raisins. Palate: Fruit cake, Christmassy, orange, buckets of dried fruit, sweet, dried fig, liquorice sweets. Finish: Medium long finish. Nutty, baked goods, dried fruit, light spices (black pepper, allspice, cinnamon). Sherry-sherry-sherry! This is a total sherry bomb! Unctuous and decadent, it's all about the fruit and sherry. Christmas in a glass. A vatting of American and European oak casks that had previously held Spanish Oloroso sherry. Bottled at 46.8%. Came third out of the six drams, with 18% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 88% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky. This received my vote for favourite of the tasting. Tasted on 22nd July 2022 - 125 years and one day after the opening of the Tamdhu distillery.