Macallan Edition No. 4

48.4% abv NAS Chill filtered Color added Nose: Cranberry cinnamon, almost potpourri smell; allspice; dark honey; dark stone fruits like cherry and plum; cocoa; red apple and orange; slight vanilla and toffee; slight peanut or cashew. One of the best noses I’ve experienced. Palate: At first sweet and very creamy, like warm vanilla custard. Quickly developments into drying dark fruit, pepper and ginger with a hint of citrus. Medium viscosity. Finish: medium-long. Slight burn; figs and plums linger along with pepper and a hint of mint; Juicy Fruit. Value: Limited Edition bottling going for $90-110. Just a tad pricy for what you get but not unreasonable for the quality. Final thoughts: A really great addition to the Macallan line providing a nice mix of their traditional sherry along with some interesting complexities and spice notes. 4/5 Highly recommend buying a bottle.

Color: Dark Amber Very complex N: Caramel, Vanilla, Sweet Aroma of Honey , Slight apple scent P: Pepper, Spicy, Bitter, Slight Sourness F: Long Finish, Pepper, Spicy, Dry , Bitter and Fruity in the background

It time to chronicle my experiences with some of these new Macallan NAS series: Editions. They have released a bottle of this every year since 2015. They are all experimental batches trying different blenders, wood types, etc. Prices have remained consistent on the retail market- about $90-100 for each batch. The secondary market has gone absolutely bonkers over Edition No. 1, though- with prices approaching $1000 for a bottle now. The clear answer to that is “No”. Let’s focus on the 2018 batch: Edition No. 4. It’s experiment is based on wood influence- primarily sherry cask (big shock that Macallan likes sherry wood). This one is dark, amber in the glass. Slightly watery while making skinny legs. It’s bottled at 48.4% and like all Macallan it’s non-chill filtered with no added color. The nose is predictably sherry-forward: grape sweetness with ripe, red berries, lightly toasted nuts and honey-dipped apple slices. It’s pretty complex the longer you sit and smell it and it’s very inviting. Classic Macallan. The palate is also sherry powered. There’s juicy citrus wedges, light vanilla with hints of harsh oak cutting through by mid sip. It’s not as oily on the mouthfeel as the Edition No. 3. The finish is medium length and surprisingly peppery for a Mac. Harsher than expected wood notes sting the tongue and throat a bit too much for my liking, but it does leave sherry lingering well after the sip comes to a close. Overall, this one is borderline classic Macallan. The added harshness isn’t expected or welcome. I can’t say I’d recommend this when you can easily save the extra $25-35 and have just as good of a time with the standard 12 year old or double cask. The sadder part is that my upcoming review of the Edition 3 reveals even more flaws in this series. I have an unopened bottle of No. 2 to still experience, but I won’t be paying a premium for the first release. 3.5 stars, max. Cheers.