Macallan Edition No. 2

Nose - Light cinnamon, dark stone fruits, treacle toffee, dark vanilla caramel, hint of leather. Taste - Dark stone fruits, hint of cinnamon & giner spice, hints of orange zest, treacle toffee, light leather, sweet tobacco, dark honey. Finish - Lingering dark stone fruits, hint of leather, light treacle toffee bittersweet. Score - 90/100 Final Thoughts - This is definitely more of the sherried Macallan profile I expect from a Macallan release. This was amazingly well balanced from start to finish and was just a very easy sipping sherried Macallan. No offputting notes or odd bitterness. Nice nose, not too complex, but nicely sherried. Overall quite delicious. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - Debating if I want to try & locate another but prices are going up.

The quest to diversify my growing collection of whisky has continued as I finally broke down and bought my first bottle of Macallan. After hearing so many people complain they are not worth the money and not wanting to pay for their aggressive marketing campaign I stayed away as long as I could. I was a convert to scotch early this summer after drinking exclusively bourbon and beer for the past five years. My introduction to scotch was Lagavulin 16 so peaty whisky is what I consider my “home” and first love. Sweetness was something I associated with the corn from bourbon and was not something I had been looking for in this new found hobby of buying and tasting scotch. Holy hell have I been missing out. The nose may have brought me to my knees had I smelled this for the first time while standing. Chocolate, vanilla, wood, berries, and honey. The shock came from just how sharp and in your face the scent hit me. It is the exact opposite of a Laphroaig/Ardbeg in regards to flavor/scent profile but I’ll be damned if the volume of this isn’t turned up to eleven as well. I think I smelled this for ten minutes before taking my first sip. The wood and vanilla really come across on the palate well. The sweetness is not as strong as the palate suggests but I did get pear and cinnamon on the finish. I would have guessed this was a 40-43 ABV but I appreciate the Macallan clocking in just over 48 ABV. I don’t know if I just got lucky with this bottle or if I am really loving strong sherry finished whiskys now (my only previous experience is the Glenfarclas 12 and 25). The store had nine more of this edition and I may pick up another bottle as reserve. Any recommendations for sweeter drams are very welcome as I prepare for another trek to the store to see what else I may be missing out on. 4.75/5

I wanted to like this, I really did. I'm a big fan of the 12, but this is just too woody by comparison for me. If you removed the wood, and kept the richness and the fruit and the sweetness, it'd be a 4.5 for me. Sadly the wood just takes away too much from the heat flavors beneath it