Soba45
Macallan Oscuro
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
February 29, 2020 (edited July 5, 2024)
Okey Dokey the grand finale...out of 12 drams provided by @LeeEvolved this is the most expensive by miles. $1400NZD or roughly $900USD.
To add a twist to the tasting I put it head to head with Bunnahabhain and Glendronach 18 drams. So how did it go overall and against the side show?
Firstly the Bunnahabhain..ah man. Usually for me drams improve a bit with time open then after too much time head back to the starting point or less. This just got better and better and has held there. If you love raisins this is for you, sultanas, xmas pudding etc. Easy 4.5. No wonder bottles are rare as hens teeth and $150USD a pop.
2nd the Glendronach 18. Ah toffee, toffee and more. I'm thinking 3 bottles is not enough and i need to stock pile one more. Update: I did and now have 5 which for a minimalist like me is a big deal!
3rd the Macallan. Now interestingly I'll fess up and say I mixed the samples up (to be fair I'm 7 drams in :-)) and thought this was the Bunnahabhain 18 as I was writing the review and declared I'd now be raising this to the top 1% of drams I've tried and a 4.75 and then almost cried at how it had broken my .5 rating range from first to subsequent taste so easily (i had noted it as a 4 rating on my initial taste which to be fair was a 7 flight tasting and it was at the end after a curried snack - yeah never again in a tasting session as that destroyed my palate but I was so so hungry at that point..)...except it wasn't the Bunna 18 it was the Oscuro. Damn this is an amazingly fine dram, it really is just perfection in a glass. Both the Bunnahabhain and Glendronach nip at it's heels but it really is flawless from start to end and they just couldn't match it...and not only that but its just so perfectly balanced and flavorsome..a homage to the art of cask blending. Oh what Macallan could have been if speculators hadn't destroyed access and availability to its goodness.
Right a BIG, BIG thanks to @LeeEvolved for the magical rollercoaster of drams. Drum roll please.....the order of all drams is
1) Macallan Oscuro 4.75
2) Red Spot 4.5
3) Compass Box Stranger and Stranger 4.5
4) Ardbeg Galileo 4.25 to 4.5
5) Knob Creek CS Rye 2010 4.25 (if you like cherry flavour add .5 to rating)
6) Laphroaig Cairdeas Amontillado 4
7) Lagavullin 11 Nick Offerman 3.75
8) Laphroaig 2010 Master Edition 3.75
9) Corriemhor 8 yr Cigar Reserve 3.5
10) Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malt Fest 2018 Ruby Port Finish 3.5
11) Mortlach GOT 15 year 3.5
12) Serendipity 12 year 3.5
And there you have it. The hands down most awesomely diverse and full stop amazing tasting I've ever participated in (excluding the 80 dram epic 10 hour 2 day 2018 Dramfest session of course which is now only 5 days, 15 hours away for the 2020 event :-)).
Ps. What is VFM you ask? Knob Creek. If that flavour profile is up your alley buy it. It's the Springbank of bourbon in it's refusal to compromise on quality or gouge on pricing.
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@jonwilkinson7309 No worries, Leeevolved did all the hard work I just drank the offerings! Yeah it's a great drop the Bunnahabhain 18 however I have heard there was a hell of a lot of variation and duds with older bottlings due to quality control so beware@
Truly epic list! Thanks for the reviews. You've inspired me to revisit the Bunna 18. I really enjoyed the one sample I had, but it wasn't as initially appealing as several other 18s I wanted to buy. Now that I think about it, I found that the Bunna 18 had a lot in common with the King Alexander, but at a better price.
@PBMichiganWolverine Its going to be mainly star rating with a generic 'Dramfest 2020' stamped on.. the occasional awesome dram I'll try and make an effort if i can read my handwriting afterwards..which us pretty bad even when I'm sober (xcuse the pun 😁)
@Soba45 Im looking forward to your Dramfest postings.
@Richard-ModernDrinking Yeah me a a few mates are in training for Dramfest next weekend...feeling how I do today not sure I'll hold up that well..haha
@PBMichiganWolverine Yeah I just find that there is a bitterness in the aftertaste of a lot of their stuff plus a lot of their lower stuff just tastes a bit soulless. Pity it takes a stupid amount of money to obtain perfection!
@Scott_E Cheers, my liver is hating me this morning and I woke up thinking did I just order another 2 GD 18s, a Bunnahabhain 18 and randomly a Laphroaig Lore after thinking ok I have enough I'm not spending any more on whiskey for a while...ah drunk online buying is dangerous stuff! I have a feeling that whilst most of that ranking may hold for people the Red Spot would be much lower in the pack!
@Soba45 Red Spot and #2. I wouldn’t expect an Irish to be so high, generally speaking. It is good stuff. Nice job!
@Soba45 and now this adds empirical proof that Macallan can be #1, given close to a 4 digit spend.
That’s some line-up!
@LeeEvolved Oh and thinking about it I don't believe it's worth waiting until my 50th to unload a bunch of my collectables so I'll start releasing them over that time period - next several years - and distribute them to my mates and you all who have shared stuff with me on this forum (I have this odd desire to not die with a stock of whiskey still intact...I have no idea why as it really shouldn't matter...I just think my wife would just tip them down the sink or let my kids pre mix them which disturbs me deeply 😳 )The '71 Mortlach I will reserve to my 50th though..
@LeeEvolved All good mate, from all your postings over the years I had a good sense of who your were at heart so wasn't offended at all. It was just an honest account of the frustrations of trying to circumvent bureaucracy :-). At least you know about the weighting band to drive down the costs even further! Very happy to contribute more next time round (without sounding presumptuous)..hopefully what I sent over this time round was ok..was going to send more but Paypal charged a hefty margin on top of the end payment. Hopefully 0.7 ounces less makes it more equivalent cost wise to sending from NZ if there is a next time. :-). I'll send all the drams I have to @PBMichiganWolverine to do a reverse onwards shipping (and compensate you accordingly pbm).
Sounds good, my friend. I think I may have overreacted when I sent the email after all of the run around I received trying to get this box out to you. Between 3-4 stops at various shipping centers, some quoting near $300 rates, scary sounding customs declaration papers, threats of seizures, thoughts of breakage or just flat out lost packages...well, I just let out all of my frustrations out in that email. Now that we know the proper route and declarations to use the next possible shipment seems a lot easier (while it still may be risky) and more approachable. I truly apologize if I came off as kind of an ass in that email. That really isn’t who I am. I’m looking forward to trying the things you sent me in the coming days and weeks. Cheers and thanks again!
@LeeEvolved Hey mate, I know it was a hell of a mission for ya but I really appreciate you sending me over the drams. Extremely enjoyable experience.. looking fwd to seeing what you think of the drams I sent over (nowhere near the quality of the top end of what you sent this way but still some very good ones). If you are alive and kicking in 7 years and 10 months and still keen on whiskey you and others who have sent me stuff @PBMichiganWolverine @cascode will be tasting 1971 42 year Mortlach, 1966 Kopke Port, NZ South Island 21 year (probably up to 40 yrs old now), Kilchoman Red Wine Cask (the very best Kilchoman ever), Tomatin 21 cask strength limited runs, the best ever Longrow and Highland Park 18 yrs editions and much much more. I will then die of liver failure at the ripe old age of 50 as I finish off all the bottles and be preserved for as many years as the cumulative age of the bottlings..in the few hundreds :-)
Wow, you put some work in to power through all of those drams. As I look at that ranking list and just take in the rarity of a lot of those drams, I gotta say...you OWE me one (or is it two, maybe three?). 😆 It’s great that we were able to exchange samples from the other side of the world, and with relative ease I might add (now cost...that’s another beast all it’s own lol). I’m glad you enjoyed most of them and enjoyed reading your thoughts on them (or at least what I can pull up while this app is glitchy as hell). Maybe we can do it again at some point in the future, so save me some rare pours when you come across them, sir. Cheers.