Tonight we’ll take part in a tasting on Twitter, thanks to Steve Rush from The Whisky Wire; it won’t be just a simple tasting, as we’ll put our noses on the whole new Macallan series (i.e. this one), made up of four declared ageless whiskies and evocative ‘coloured’ names. In the next few days we will publish the tasting notes. While preparing for this tweet-tasting, we realized that, although we have drunk several expressions, we have never published official Macallan tasting notes. So we decided to end this havoc by tasting the first version of the 10 years old Macallan ‘Cask Strength’, released in 2000. The color is dark copper.
N: it immediately turns out to be an excellent young sherry monster, with a very deep red fruit (cherries in spirit, maraschino). Despite the thundering abv, it can be sniffed with great ‘willingness’: croissant (apricot jam); a jubilation of red fruit, as we used to say (raspberries, blackberries, cherries), with a remarkable intensity. Citrus notes that actually recall cola and tamarind; even slight but very pleasant traces of caramel. A suggestion of aniseed, here and there. Very ‘sweet’, brazen, but fresh and not at all cloying. With water, there are splendid notes of wood, very deep; later, clear hints of chocolate, licorice, even spicy tobacco.
P: consistent with the good sensations on the nose: it is sweet without losing the grace, it shows no flames of taste but a single ‘wall’, intense, which envelops the palate. It’s malty and toasted; you can feel it’s young and fresh, but it’s already mature and with personality – something we like a lot. Again, red fruits ‘at the top’, then a generous mouth-wrapping note of barrel wood, sharp but never excessive. Caramel (creamy, almost créme caramel), then dried fruit (hazelnut); orange peel in melted chocolate.
F: long and persistent, with wood (it feels like breathing inside a warehouse!), red fruits, hazelnut, chocolate.
Well, they always say Macallan is not what it used to be (are we wrong or when you get older you start saying this about everything? However, the Fine Oak series…). This ‘Cask Strength’, frankly, is impressive: it is round, intense, without edges and without real flaws. In short, it’s what we’re looking for in a sherry monster of this age: that’s why 88/100 is the right rating in our booklet. With a bit of luck, it is still around at 100 euros for the liter version (who knows why this one resisted the insults of the time). We can say those 100 euros would be very well spent, in any case. Thanks a lot for the abundant sample, Angus!
Recommended soundtrack: well, since the Rolling Stones are already on the site, we can only put Aerosmith with Love in an elevator.
