November 26, 2015

Two very sherried NAS Macallans

Will there be some magic? Won’t tasting these expensive Macallans that carry no age statement be like driving a great sports car without knowing the size of the engine and the number of cylinders?

Macallan 'Rare Cask' (43%, OB, +/-2015)

One of these very embarrassing newish NAS bottlings, ridden with stories about oak and sherry – and laudatory adjectives – but in fact, it’s all a thick smokescreen of claims, there’s nothing certain. Only the price ‘may’ tell us where it sits, and the price is £190. But can you trust a price tag? Colour: amber. Nose: an earthy and slightly smoky sherry that reminds me of the older 8 or 12, with raisins, kirsch, Seville oranges, chocolate, chestnut honey and then cinnamon, cloves, mint, and nutmeg. It doesn’t feel very old, but I’d call this ‘classic’. Mouth: indeed, the older 12+. Quite a lot of bitter oranges and honey in the arrival, then this very peculiar toffeeness plus Corinthian raisins, pipe tobacco, liqueur-filled chocolate, and a touch of vanilla fudge. Millionaire shortbread. Good body. Finish: medium, very well balanced I have to say, rather on marmalade this time. Honeyed and moderately spicy aftertaste. Comments: seriously, I think this is very good, and probably much more ‘Macallan’ than other newish bottlings. Great work, only the price is a little, well, you know what a mean. SGP:451 - 87 points.

There’s high-end, and there’s higher-end…

Macallan 'Remix Remixed' (58.9%, OB, Masters of Photography, Asia Travel Retail, first fill sherry, cask #15245, 500 bottles, 2013)

Bottled to celebrate the 75th birthday of Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama. As has been seen elsewhere (at Balvenie’s, for instance) it’s always a little awkward to learn about the cask #, but not about the age and/or the vintage. Colour: coffee. Nose: ah! Full-blown old oloroso, whiffs of pencil shavings (just wee whiffs), bags of black raisins, then a myriad of tinier ‘tertiary’ aromas, black cigars, pipe tobacco, mushrooms, fig liqueur, mushrooms and earth, earthy tea, old wine cellar, some menthol, cough syrup, ‘a forest after the rain’… And all that. Black cherries. I find this exceptional. With water: stunning! Porcinis, Cuban cigars, cocoa, mocha, raisins, dark honey, parsley (I love parsley in my sherried whiskies)… What a nose, what a nose. Mouth (neat): crikey, this is great! It’s one of these Macallans that tend to resemble the greatest old armagnacs, and in fact we’re extremely close. Tasting this blind would be a tad tricky, to be honest. The sherry’s so thick that there might be more grapes in this than in any wine brandy ;-). But it’s truly exceptional. What’s the age again? With water: absolutely gorgeous, the very essence of oloroso maturing, with prunes this time, more raisins, more marmalade… So reduction made it rather sweeter. In the background, a little sandalwood, and even a touch of incense. Reminds me of the best old heavily sherried Yamazakis at some point. Finish: very long, drier again – which is great – and rather more on coffee-schnapps. That would be the greatest schnapps in the greatest coffee, of course. Comments: long story short, this is very, very impressive. Only small problem, buying one of these will cost you around 3,000€, it seems. If you’re very wealthy, I wouldn’t say that’s not money well spent. Now, what’s the age again? SGP:561 - 93 points.

Check the index of all Macallan I've tasted so far

Pete McPeat and Jack Washback