Macallan Rare Cask

Sherry on the nose. Fruity with a clear cherry presence from the Sherry and a rich, buttery depth. It's like a good cherry pie and toys with the notion of becoming cough syrup but does not cross that line. The cherry is made more robust by prune flavors with just the faintest hint of caramel. In terms of spices, ginger and clove are present. The flavor definitely develops over time and is delightfully rich throughout. Chocolate makes a brief appearance, but there is no peat or smoke. Yeah, there is plenty of complexity here, but the thing that makes this scotch such a success that mixed in among the many delicious flavors, there are no bad or even out-of-place ones. A clear step up over the macallan 12 Sherry, though your budget will have to dictate whether it is a $180 / 360% improvement. The flavor is certainly rich, though I'm not sure it is all that sophisticated. Fruit and alcohol are the dominant flavors, with see vanilla and woody spices thrown in. It's kind of bitter and full, but not that superbly deep experience that I want. OK, it is quite rich, but it doesn't have a superb amount of variation. The Macallan 12 Sherry has nothing on this with its less-developed flavor and more alcohol presence. Fruity, woody, and old. Reasonably sweet with some clear cherry. It isn't as complex as Glenfarclas 25, but it has some of those influences. It tastes sort of somewhere between Glenfarclas 25 and Delord 1981. That's definitely a good thing, but both of those combined costs less than this...so why not buy both instead? Toffee, semi-sweet chocolate and raisins are there, as is some sort of nutty backing (almond? Sadly not that delicious coconut). This is a very balanced drink with flavors that delivers good flavors, but it doesn't have an astonishing amount of complexity and doesn't have any flavors that really leap out. If anything does, the raisin flavor here stands out as a uniquely excellent feature.

Has to be the smoothest bourbon or whisky I have ever had. Kind of mind blowing...

JJs zoom tasting