Macallan Edition No. 5

Excellent dram. Fruity and caramel

After being disappointed by Editions 3 and 4, I was not sold on this line. Ed. No. 2 restored my faith in the series. That brings us to the latest installment. I bought it for $10 more than the rest, though I've seen it for some pretty prices (one store even has it at $200.) Was 2 a fluke or will Mac redeem their two previous average efforts? Let's find out. Nose: Sherry heavy. Plum, date, fig, prune, raisin, red grape. Plenty of vanilla, honey, marshmallow, and toffee. Milk chocolate and salted caramel. Apple, pear, orange, and apricot add additional fruit influence. It's floral, and there's a bit of lemon in there, too. Clove, nutmeg, and oak. Good start. Palate: More plum, grape, and raisin. Pomegranite and acai berry. The apple, orange, pear, and apricot notes are now balanced with the dark fruit notes, which took a strong lead on the nose. Especially orange, and orange peel. More of the milk chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and toffee. Bittersweet blackberry and tangy lime notes appear on the mid-palate. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and oak. Quite similar to the nose, and just as good and with a greater balance between the dark fruit notes that dominated the nose and the rest of the notes. Finish: The dry red fruit hits hard right off the bat. Plum, cranberry, fig, date, raisin, prune, pomegranite, acai berry. Orange and lime. More of the cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, and oak spice that round out a long finish. Fantastic effort. Puts the series right back on track for me. I came into this tasting with a score of 4.25 in mind. But I'm deeply impressed with this one. I'll compare to the Ed. 2 (again) and 18 Y.O. Sherry oak to better frame my score, but I'm absolutely loving this one. Score may improve. Macallan seems to think that this was a great effort, as well. I purchased this one as soon as it hit the market for $110. That's $10 more than I paid for 2-4. Now, I regularly see this for $20-$40 higher--including at the store I originally got it at. With Macallan products, there seems to be a never-ending tug-a-war between value and quality. Compared to 2-4, this has quality. Only 2 is arguably better quality, and you can't say it's a better value because you can't buy it at retail price anymore (if you can, please contact me immediately.) Variables aside, this is a superb whisky. The 18, Ed. 2, and Ed. 5 are my last three Macallan reviews, and they have restored my faith in the product. If you can still find this for a reasonable price, grab this up before it's gone.

I have said this at least a dozen times, you know im not a Macallan fan, i have had some excelent, normal and bad ones. Actually i have had the 5 editions, and hated No. 2, liked 1 and 3 and loved No. 4. What im trying to say here is that i believe that i do not fall for Macallan's Marketing Hype as other people do; nor i trash talk it just to be internet cool. I try to be objective about my hobby: reviewing whisky. Having said all that, this one is a very good whisky, that has one of the best aromas i have ever found on a dram. Edition No. 3 was supposed to have the best aroma, since it was selected by a perfume maker. That one doesn't even come close to edition No. 5's Aroma. Lets review this dram: First, this edition is a tribute to Macallan's original whisky color, and they actually with the Pantone Color Institute to get a special shade of purple that represent Macallan. It's on the box. Bottled at 48.5%abv, tawny color. On the nose, best aroma in the whisky world. At least one of my top 5 whisky aromas ever. I did a tasting event and everyone agreed. It is just spectacular. Here are my notes on it: Grapes. Very floral, resembles a japanese whisky. Very winey. Honey hard candy. Sawdust. Incredibly perfumed. Chocolate, toffee, honey, hazelnut, nutella, TEMPERA PAINT, dates, red fruits. Second sip reveals blackberries, full caramel. Third sip, floral and red fruits. It is just crazy. You really don't need to drink it, you can just smell it. The rest of the dram is good, nothing super amazing, but good. Strawberries, blackberries, sugary, dried fruits; molasses. A little bittersweet. Herbal and caramel notes. Abv is high enough to give you a decent, powerful flavor. Aftertaste is where classic Macallan notes appear. Sawdust, oak, sulphur, minerals, salt. A little burn, aniseed, hazelnut and pie crest. A little dry. Overall i can compare this whisky to David Beckham's football career: handsome and perfumed but gets dirty when needed. I really liked it, and i will give you my individual scores for every part of it: Nose: 26 over 25 points. (Yes, i had to reward it one point over the limit since it deserves it). Palate: 22 over 25. Aftertaste: 21 over 25. Balance: 22 over 25. So 91 over 100. That is really a fair score for it. Sláinte!

Not as good as the other Editions I’ve quite liked (2 and 3 in particular), but still fairly full of flavor and better than the entry-level offering. Decently rich barley color, dependent on how it catches the light. Fairy aromatic; a bit of undefinable sweetness with a fair amount of charred wood and some ginger and herbal spice. A bit of butter and caramel on the palate, with some spice as well. At the roof of the mouth, you get a bit of flavor like lemon-lime soda.