MaCallan 12 was the first bottle I bought on my 21st birthday. From there, I quickly branched out to bourbon, rye and Islay scotch. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t take more time to explore the mouthful tastes of Speyside, but life is short and my liver is young! My first bottle of MaCallan 12 was of the single cask variety, and unfortunately, I don’t remember it well enough to compare to compare it to the double cask. No matter. I probably couldn’t formulate an adequate MaC tongue dance tête-à-tête anyhow. The double cask is good stuff. It’s not world-changing and it doesn’t suck. Any further comment on the matter will, in all likelihood, fail to convey the intended message as adequately as the above comment. The nose is pruny|raisiny and slightly toasty. It smells sweet and fruity but not cloying. I’ll admit that I’ve had a lot more blended and Islay scotches than Speysides or Highlands, so the raisiny note is surprising and kind of intriguing. The plummy dried wrinkly fruit note is also present on the palate, as is the sweetness. There’s some dark-chocolate influence there, as well, and it makes me think that this would make a great dram for the holidays. I bet this is what little Scottish children leave for Sandy Clause instead of milk. I really do appreciate the fact that this is bottled at 43% instead of the usual 40%, and the higher abv helps the whisky to pack a nice flavor punch while not tasting like str8 ethanol. There’s a slight bitterness on the finish that is mitigated by the addition of some ice (gasp) or water (sigh). The flavor of sun-dried heirloom raisins remains on the tongue for some time after taking a sip. It’s as if I’ve French kissed the Sun-Maid Maid and she’s totally into it. I know there’s more to MaCallan and more to Speyside than just dried stone fruit flavors, and I hope that further exposure can help to educate my taste-grapes and collegianate my mouth receptors. Some people have it and some people don’t. I don’t. It saddens me to see the price of MaCallan gradually rising across the board, and I hope that it starts to level out at the ~$60 price range, lest the value be eclipsed by the hype. PG, baby. Praise God.