Macallan Fine Oak 15 Years
Colour: straw yellow.
Nose: Wild flowers, quite noble, lots of oak spices.
Palate: starts smooth and sweet like thinned maple syrup but that turns woody, green and piney but all these are not overdone.
Finish: Unlike the start on palate, the finish is dry and more bitter, orange with a little spice, maybe clove? Oh hello, that’s bitter orange marmalade. Most reviews I’ve read define chocolate all over, but I don’t get much, or is it that bitter chocolate that is described? I get the bitterness.
With a few drops of water I found some pepper in the finish, which helps to bring out the differences between sweet and spicy and lower the strength a little.
I do like this whisky, it’s primo and I enjoyed it, so don’t get me wrong (starting a new topic here) but I think I prefer purely ex-sherry/port cask whisky rather than a mix of bourbon and sherry, or pure bourbon casks. On researching some more, it’s interesting to know that this whisky is triple matured in a trio of Spanish oak ex-sherry wine casks, American oak ex-Sherry casks, and American oak ex-bourbon casks, all matured separately for 15 years, then married. So, even having two sherry casks and only one bourbon in the dram, why is it that I’m missing the “winey” flavours then? I need to research more on the different outcomes from using sherry casks vs. bourbon casks vs. both.
I may be identifying some clear and present direction here for my true whisky character. It could never be that I’ve had one too many…
@murrayaitken I missed your Macau recommendation by 14 months. Oh well, I tasted some amazing grape spirit in Xinjiang last summer.
As for Amrut, I'm h inking about a single cask that was exclusive to LCBO but they do seem to have a lot of them around the world. I would recommend a cask strength 2007 edition if you can find one but the others are nice too, or a bourbon single cask if you can get one. If you like Sherry a single cask or Intermediate Sherry are good bets. If you like Port, Portonova.
@Nozinan thanks. I'm heading out to find some aged Macallan this weekend. The oldest I own is this 15, had an 18 before but that's long gone and the rest of the vertical ages I have tried, just never concentrated on a review. If you're ever across in Hong Kong, pop over by ferry to Macau, the Macallan Whisky Bar at the Galaxy Hotel & Casino is fantastic, they claim to have over 400 top-grade whiskies on the menu, including some of the rarest ones from Macallan.
Amrut as in the Indian whisky? I've never tried them but often seen them around, hmm may go on the wish list too. Do you recall which one it was? I'm going to try as many of the aged Macallan's over the next few weeks, as I have had some gorgeous Macallan's before, need to recall which ones they were.