I’m always intrigued when a distillery decides to utilize a different barley in their production as it tends to produce slight variances outside of their traditional profile. Bruichladdich has conducted a few experiments with different barleys that yielded different results, some I found better than others and my favorite has been the farm to bottle Octomore’s X.3 editions where the barley is sourced from a single farm. So next up in my exploration through some of Macallan’s releases, I have a sample of their Estate which was made with barley grown on the Macallan estate and was bottled at 43% ABV. The nose starts with a mix of sour lemon, candied ginger and mild barnyard funk then cocoa powder dusted prunes, light minerality and toasted hazelnuts followed by mildly sour grapes, sautéed apples and orange zest that transition to light baking spices and mildly bitter black tea with low ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with sweet tropical fruits before a moderate bitter and sour spice that slowly fades sour lemon, candied ginger and charred hay bales then cocoa powder dusted prunes, espresso and toasted hazelnuts followed by pineapple, Granny Smith apple peel and orange zest that transition to light baking spices and mildly bitter black tea with low ethanol burn. The finish is short with sour grapes, mango, cocoa powder covered prunes, black pepper, ginger and mildly bitter black tea. For me, this seems like a youthful, thin spirit that turned out around average with a nose that is predominantly sour with a light farmyard funk and mild bitter tea that the taste improves slightly over the nose with sweet tropical fruits before a bitter sour spice overwhelms those fruits and veers towards the sour profile found on the nose and finishes rather sour with a light tropical fruit preventing it from being overwhelmingly along with mild bitter tea. At the cost of nearly $275 near me, this isn’t one I’d be interested in purchasing a full bottle of anytime soon and would be perfectly happy with many other lower cost options that I find to provide a better experience.