Tag: Macallan | MaltKlaus' Daily Drams

December 11, 2016December 9, 2016

24 drams till Christmas 2016 #11: The Macallan Edition No.2 NAS

Dram data:
Distillery: Macallan
Bottler: Official bottling
Distilled: –
Bottled: 2016
Age: NAS
Limitation: –
Casks: 7 different types
Alcohol: 48,2%
unchillfiltered and uncoloured
Whiskybase link

The Macallan, probably one of the most widely recognised luxury whisky brands in the world, released their 2nd “edition” whisky, this time made up of no less than seven different cask types. It would be rude not to give it a proper review after being given a blind sample for a competition amongst malt mates!

Tasting notes:
Colour: amber
The nose opens with dense, heavily sherried, aged aromas. You could bury your nose in there for a long time. Let me rephrase that – you CAN! The European oak spices dominate, paired with mixed sherry impressions. Cinnamon, star anise and a pinch of nutmeg rubbed on a new leather jacket lying on a boardroom with old oak flooring. Raisins, caramelised ginger, dark chocolate too.
Very interesting and dense – but after close to a quarter of an hour in the glass and having taken a sip something happens: The nose gets much lighter, less “dark” and intense. Most whiskies improve with time in the glass, this one, strangely, seems to lose. A LOT! This happened to me on the first, blind tasting and now upon retasting as well. Let’s see what the palate has in store! Continue reading “24 drams till Christmas 2016 #11: The Macallan Edition No.2 NAS”

June 25, 2015October 7, 2016

NAS vs. Age Statement Blind Tasting Challenge: Macallan 10yo Fine Oak vs. Macallan Gold

Blind Tasting Challenge - NAS vs. age statement

In early 2015 whisky blogger and malt maniac Oliver Klimek set out to do a wide-scale comparison between NAS and age statement expressions, all done blind and with 35 tasters per pair of whisky. The results are very interesting with a near-draw between the entry-level malts and their NAS counterparts. Head over to his site dramming.com for all details on the challenge and the results!

Here are my original tasting notes on the first pair of whiskies: The Macallan 10 yo Fine Oak vs. their NAS Gold edition. All notes are original as written during the blind tasting phase.

A5A: Macallan 10yo Fine Oak
Distillery: Macallan
Bottler: Official Bottling
Distilled: –
Bottled: 2014
Age: 10yo
Limitation: –
Casks: Bourbon+Sherry
Alcohol: 40%
chillfiltered; natural colour
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour: straw
We’re back to the very light and faint noses. Classic style, vanilla, honey, a light creamy pudding note, eucalyptus, glucose-laden tinned fruits, sweet white grapes, dark oranges and faint notes of malt. Getting less fruity and quite a bit more malty as time progresses. Continue reading “NAS vs. Age Statement Blind Tasting Challenge: Macallan 10yo Fine Oak vs. Macallan Gold”

June 23, 2014July 5, 2017

Tasting: Macallan 1990 by Whiskybroker

Dram data:

Distillery: Macallan
Bottler: Whiskybroker.co.uk
Distilled: 23.01.1990
Bottled: 05.03.2013
Age: 23
Limitation: ?
Price at the time of purchasing: – (sample)
Casks: Hogshead
Alcohol: 34,9%
Uncoloured & Unchillfiltered
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour: Dark straw. The nose is rather funny – my first impression was one of rather old, stuffed cupboard – I guess that’s the influence of the cask which let this dram slip under the 40% mark. Continue reading “Tasting: Macallan 1990 by Whiskybroker”