The nose on this gets me excited for a sweet oak palate. Specifics are hard to pin but I get things like caramel, tart dark fruits, dusty oak with a metallic brightness. Onto the palate, however... initial impressions were not favorable. It feels empty and hot, with way more bitter wood in the taste than anything else. I still don’t care for this neat. Water or ice makes it much more bearable, though still not redeemably so in my opinion. I taste chocolate and caramel accompanying rich notes of some tropical fruit like papaya, which segues into the bitter, spicy oak wood. I suspect it’s my palate’s preferences, but I would much rather prefer the vanilla Macallan to this expression. Especially at this price.