Soba45
Macallan Estate Reserve 1824 Series
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
January 21, 2018 (edited October 21, 2024)
The first bottle Macallan I had the 12 didn't impress me that much. It looked the part but just seemed to be lacking a bit of soul.... no complex flavour that made me want to roll it round and round my mouth..and then there was the price point. I sacrificed that to a whisky session. The Estate is my second crack. I had a sip and thought not bad, doesn't blow me away but I think it's one of the cheaper offerings and then saw the price. Whaaat $220USD! The good, niceish mildly oily sherry wooded flavour but fainter than I like and the alcohol just seems a tiny bit astringent and bitter and after a while artificial. Negligible aftertaste. I had the Aberlour 18 earlier which I'm now a bit so so on and I preferred that at a 3rd of the price. I had to triple check that I am actually reviewing the same whiskey as most others rave about it. Maybe a dud sample as I'm not getting much of what cascode and others are describing, maybe the mild curry drumstick I ate prior messed my taste buds or maybe I've just had too many stunning whiskies at a 3rd to a quarter of the price of this one recently to put it in the 4 category. So far Macallan sits along side Dalmore with me, marketing, hype and dissapointment. It's a 3.5 for at best and with the price point no more than a 3.
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It was a MoM sample. I find there is variance overtime with a bottle so that can explain part of it however I find it's a half point up or down type of thing, never more than a point and often it's a bit of a bell curve. Improves for a bit a drops off again. I'm not one for subtlety so that's prob why its a style that doesn't work that well for me. Personal preference, what you try when with what else and batch variance...who knows :-). Bit like the Tamdhu 10 you just reviewed I guess..hard to pin down unless you all come together and taste the same bottle at the same time.
Wow, that certainly sounds different to my experience. Was it a sample or bar pour, or an unopened bottle? My bottle was US$200 and I thought it was worth it - just - but I've seen it elsewhere in Oz for US$360, which is outrageous and I'd never pay.