The second of two cask strength sherry-matured Macallan bottlings I picked up from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"). This comes from a large-scale revatting project at the SMWS, where they take 10 year old sherry-matured Macallan and then age it in different sherry casks or hogshead for another two years.
This is finished in first-fill Oloroso. Here are the official notes:
At ten years of age, we combined selected casks from this distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of casks to develop further. This is one of those casks. The nose is spectacular – plums, prunes and almonds, Demerara, sherry, oranges, cherry cola and wine-soaked, flamenco-battered floorboards in a Seville bar. The palate unfolds in waves – root beer, vanilla, ripe figs, red apples, leather and medicinal notes. The reduced nose gets Madeira molasses cake in a humidor, treacle tart, damson jam and honeyed waffles. The life-affirming palate finds nougat, maple candies and pressed dried dates; then a clove, mulled wine and pencil chewing finish.
Sounds amazing! I was enticed by the Demerara sugar, cherry cola, and wine-soaked floorboards. Bottled at a wildly intense 63.5% ABV, let's just sink right in:
Nose: Surprisingly meaty and dry on the first pour. I get prune juice, roasted almonds, tons of dry leathery red wine (it scents almost like straight red wine at times!), cherry cola, and lots of spicy wood tannins. Furniture polish. A metric ton of yeast. I continually get a streak of beef jerky and cherry cola. It's very interesting. Not at all sweet like you get with other sherry bombs. I assume the "meatiness" is actually some level of sulfur.
With water, this sweetens up noticeably. I get root beer, sweet cherry cola, plums, stewed red fruits, brown sugar, and vanilla. Also, tobacco. But sweeter than the nose without water.
Mouthfeel: Resinous, chewy.
Palate: It really does come on in waves - more cherry cola, dry brown sherry, figs and dates, leather, and extremely reduced balsamic vinegar. It's potent stuff. Tobacco. Old ham. Molasses and brown sugar. Oranges and orange peel. Charred walnuts. The high alcohol content really turbocharges this into the stratosphere.
With water, this is - like the nose - a bit sweeter. Vanilla, cherry liqueur, brown sugar, yeast, leather, pipe tobacco, and lots of baking spices.
Finish: Dry, yeasty, woody, with old planks and chocolate.
Verdict: Another great dry sherry bomb from Macallan/SWMS. Like the other bottle I have, it's not for the faint of heart - it has powerful flavors like yeast and tobacco which not everyone will care for - but I love it. It's a great late night dram when you are reading an old book or something - it lends itself that way. A great dram. Extremely rich and dense.
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