According to everyone on the internet, this is a Macallan. The little (m) on the label also suggests that, since there’s not too many distilleries with an M out there. Macallan, Macduff, Mannochmore, Miltonduff and Mortlach. Of course, four of these five are in Speyside so that officially doesn’t really narrow it down.
Of course, there’s the palate and aromas you can go by, but I am know to be notoriously shit at guessing whiskies based on smell and taste.
Now, I have to admit I’ve not had many Macallans over the last couple of years. Ever since prices started to soar, they’ve priced themselves neatly out of my enthusiasm. On top of that, independent releases have all but dried up, and official releases focus more on color than they do on sharing information of what is in the bottle. I dislike that, to say the least.
Anyway, a decent aged Macallan, from a decent bottler. I had to get my hands on a sample of this, and that worked out really well.
Sniff:
Full on sherry on the nose. Lots of dried fruit, lots of sweetness. Dark oaky notes too. Not a lot of those yeasty notes that sometimes come with sherry matured whisky. Tobacco, and where there was some gentleness at first, there’s lots of bite and black pepper after a minute or so.
Sip:
The palate is surprisingly dry with lots of chili and black pepper. After that the dried fruits, dates, plums, cherries, come back. Their stones are here too, with an almond like bitterness.
Swallow:
A rather hot and rich finish. Dry, but with lots of dried fruit that do add some sweetness, without it being contradictory.
This is one of those whiskies that is quite contradictory to me. On one hand there is a lot of nice flavors and depth and oomph for two whiskies, but on the other hand there is almost nothing reminiscent of spirit and barley happening. It’s all cask, all the way.
So, it’s very good in a way, but it’s also not something I’d want to return to too often.
87/100