Well tonight's review is bittersweet for me. I'm watching the last Detroit Red Wings game at Joe Louis Arena, and seeing all the great players past and present pay tribute to the Joe and the team, and the final playing of Journey's Don't Stop Believing at JLA made me want to break out a special bottle to join in the celebration. Macallan Rare Cask is a Premium NAS scotch bottled at 43% ABV. It is non chill filtered as far as I know and is natural color of what I would call a dark rusty amber. A sherry bomb at no mistake on the nose, rich and sweet. Up front it's sherry wine, brown sugar coated raisins, prunes, grapes and dates. A strong note of black cherries and cola. Toffee and burnt sugar. There is a slight sulfur note like burnt matches. Not smoky, but sulfurous. I found this in the 12 year sherry wood and it was off putting but it's not like that here, more subdued. Wood spices, soft vanilla and cinnamon and sweet syrup. It's a very mature and elegant nose. I would guess an average age of 15-18 years. Some older casks and some younger as well. It's one of those whiskies I could nose for hours. The palate has an unexpected peppery arrival. Dried red fruits, sherried fruits, and sherry wine. Very mature. Faint oak and cocoa powder. Orchard fruits like apricot and nectarines. Sweet, almost too sweet, it walks that edge successfully. Quite elegant. A little thin on the mouthfeel, but it is silky and a little mouthwatering, turning dry. The finish is medium long. Sweet and a little spicy. Oak, sherry, dried apricots and syrup. Rare Cask is definitely a great whisky for those who love sherried whiskies. It might be too sweet for the die hard peat heads. I think an additional 3% ABV would have helped, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'll be sad when the bottle is gone because I doubt I will pony up for the high price of this bottle again. The only reason I bought it was because I was able to get it at 25% off. Looks like the final count of octopi thrown onto the ice tonight was 37 and the score I'm giving this dram is 4.5. If you have money and you want a special occasion bottle, this is a good way to go. Cheers.