Malts selected and bottled by Whiskyclub.it have amazed us untill now: in particular, the Teaninich really made us dizzy, while the Bunnahabhain was surprising because of its personality, despite the early age. Today we try the most expensive bottle of the club (just over 200 euros, with a discount for members), a single barrel by Macallan, distilled in 1993 and bottled just a few months ago; it’s a sherry refill, and we like that fact.
N: once you get over a thick wall of alchol (well, of course it is, at 57,7%!), you will find what you’re looking for when having a Macallan: elegance and class. Even if twenty years have passed, the malt stands proud, with toasted notes of dried fruits and cereal. Then red fruits come (strawberry jam); a good suggestion of gianduja and some kind of warehouse humidity contribute to darken this nose, that is really full and overflowing. Peaches in syrup and caramelized apples: tarte tatin? An oranges touch. Water is mandatory, because alchol goes away while pleasure remains: caramel, oranges and fruits are revived, with red fruits on top and an astonishing diffused elegance.
P: robust, heavy, massive: still alcoholic, but soon we get a flair-up of flavors. All the suggestions that recall a carmellose and sticky dessert are well accepted: caramelized peanuts, canned fruit, strawberry jam, candied orange peel, butter biscuits. A flash: cereal biscuits with fruits… Apricot jam. With water, you may loose those flavor flames, but the intensity does not shrink by a millimeter, becoming more uniform and chic. So this Mac becomes, if possible, even more elegant and refined. Really a classic.
F: very long, malty and fruity, sweet and warm dried fruirs, caramel, in a word “fantastic”.
This is Whisky, a sort of single malt noumenon. You drink it and you think of Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North by northwest; you drink it and you think of a vintage library with decorated wooden bookcases, carpets everywhere, elegant men sitting on leather armchairs talking about politics and business wearing slippers, smooth jazz in the background, a lot of tartan everywhere … You drink it and you think that, of course, but then it occurs to you that the two guys who bottled it are the one in the photo; and enjoying the dram, you can only breathe a sigh of relief. Congratulations to Claudio and Davide (we wouldn’t let you get too used to praise!), 92/100 is the verdict.
Recommended soundtrack: Billy Joel – Piano man.
