Macallan Rare Cask

Nose, Vanilla, raisins and with apples, oranges, and spicy ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Palate, Echoing the nose, but with spice up front supported by raisin and vanilla in the background. Finish, Chocolate and raisins fade to light notes of citrus zest. Sweet all the way through. I suggest cutting alcohol with a dab of water or a large ice cube to truly pull out the wonderful flavours.

This represents everything I hate about scotch, and I regret buying this bottle. OBSERVATION: The stores that sell this for $300+, move this product, and sell out. The stores that are slashing prices still have 10 of these on the shelves. The price that got me to bite is $225. Macallan clearly appeals to those who feel the value of the liquid inside is affected by how much they spent on it. That is to say, the more you spend on this bottle, the better it will taste. Which is ridiculous. Secondly, fancy packaging is not welcomed. The rare cask is an eyesore, both in the information it provides and in the ridiculous 20 pound bottle. “Only 1% of the whiskies made the cut and were chosen for their color and depth of flavor…” STFU marketing prats. There are bad casks in here - it’s obvious. At $50, they aren’t bad casks, at $200+, and when you’re Macallan, these shouldn’t be present. The arrival is quality, but then there are sulphurous notes that aren’t intentional in the Macallan profile. It’s NAS because it probably contains substandard casks that are younger than 12 years. WHAT I LIKED: It’s also obvious that there are good casks in here. This is better than the 12 year, for sure. Is it better than the similarly-priced 18 year? I don’t know about current bottlings because I haven’t tried them, but the arrival for the rare cask is reminiscent of the glory days of Macallan, when 18 year olds were vintaged, and I would sweat about paying $20-30 for a pour out of bottles that today cost over $1000. There is nutmeg, sultanas, and dark chocolate. Followed by red oranges, slightly burnt coffee. The spiciness is just right with hints of cloves and cracked peppercorn. There is a good deal of smokiness for a Macallan, not from peat, but from alligator staves. VERDICT: There is quality present, but it is polluted by cheaper casks, which is almost as distracting as the baroque presentation. Stop inflating the price with visual appeal. Minus $50 for the bottle, minus $50 for the ridiculous marketing blurb… $125 is a reasonable price for this product. Call this buyer’s remorse, but HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN GET INSTEAD: Ardbeg Uigeadail and Aberlour A’bunadh are the twin pillars of value in the peated and sherried NAS world, respectively. You can buy both and still have change. If you want to stay within the Macallan house, you can buy both Edition No. 1 and No. 2. Number 2 happens to be the best Macallan I’ve had this decade, and I think is guaranteed to soar in value after bottles run out, similar to the vintage 18 year olds bottled in 1999-2007. If you want to try how Macallan 18 used to taste 10-15 years ago, get the Glendronach Parliament instead of Rare Cask. If you want to spend $100 more on a sherried whisky that, I’m afraid, is worth the ridiculous price tag: Balvenie TUN 1509 Batch 2. MARK: 86/100. Yes, that’s a high mark, and is based on the quality of the liquid; but like I said, this is overpriced and I hate what it represents, so I’m going to give it 2 stars.