Macallan Classic Cut (2019 Release)

Beautiful whiskey, love the nose and the burn is great. Way better than the 12 or 15.

Of course there are 2 of the same bottles posted here....anyway. So macallan the distillery who makes our skin crawl, but darn it if they don't have some good malt they water down and ruin and then bottle incorrectly and then over charge us for! This their 2019 "classic cut" which is a proofed down (they pour water into the whisky) fake NAS CS bottling...again marketing. Is their newest in the classic cut line. A line I've really enjoyed despite macallan's dreadful marketing, and their odd commercial with the guy committing suicide only to I assume in a dream state while falling to his death growing wings. Suicide support aside lets get into the whisky. Nose - an inviting mix of vanilla and chocolate. Accentuated by ginger and only lightly hinting at young unrefined alcohol notes. Then I get a bit of citrus as it opens up almost coming in with orange notes. Interesting when sitting in the glass I get those chocolate and vanilla notes but when keep going back and don't let is build up, it's orange vanilla cream and alcohol. Taste - So elephant out of the room, there's zero question in this being young whisky. This is a super sweet dram up front that goes bitter and more bitter as it goes down. Vanilla and a mix of bitter and citrus fruits really come on hard and punchy. The finish is all vanilla and cream and wonderful milk chocolate and even perhaps as the box says honey. Overall the finish is great but the flavor is really a bit off putting in the context of everything else. . So 17 vs 18 vs 19? The 17 brings in far more oak but in an extremely inviting way for these younger casks. Richer and sweeter and just fuller in body. The 18 feel thin next to these. It's more spices and frankly thin and almost dismissive. The 18 feels like an odd ball in the lineup. oak is not really playing a role until the finish where it is a nice change of pace. So the 19 vs them? Well the 17 still stands out as the most drinkable and enjoyable while packing the most abv punch. For me that's a true standout thought my 4.0 score does feel like me hyping a bottle I just really felt was a good value vs a fair and honest score. I think I need to review that score and move it back to a more fair score. The 18 still to me is not an enjoyable whisky vs the other two, but still very good. The 19? Well it's good. But not special. I'm going with a 3.0 here and frankly I think i've overrated both the 17 and 18 before this. I still think this is better than a lot of vastly higher priced macallan but my standards are going up for what is a 3.0 and certainly a 4.0. So full disclosure while this bottle is going 120-135 at actual fair prices around me, I somehow found this for 80. At 80 it's a must buy for sherry fans. At the 100 mark it's a good buy and over that it's a pass. I will be reviewing the batch 8 glendronach and glenrothes blenders or makers cut...so two more NAS higher proof sherry whiskies and I'll be going back to this 19 in reference so I reserve the right to adjust this score. But I suspect both will come in below this as 3.0's are not low scores for me.

Deliciously smooth and complex. My favorite in the price range to date.

A typical Macallan Sherry nose and taste, but amped up with the higher ABV. A nice cocoa flavor as well. Very nice.