The Macallan 10 Years Old Cask Strength
Distillery: The MacallanStyle: Single Malt
Release: UK
Age: 10 Years
Alcohol: 59.2% abv.
Region: Scotland, Speyside
Bottled For: Distillery
The Macallan is delighted to have created a 10 years old cask strength whisky for travel retail and duty free outlets. As with the US Cask Strength Macallan, Bob (our perfectionist Whisky Maker) has toiled to create a 10 years old malt that has balance, power and finesse. This high strength whisky shares many sensory similarities with its American cousin and is testimony to the skill in the sample room from Bob and his team of olfactory experts. Whisky at natural cask strength can be overly powerful and pungent but in this latest creation the Spanish oak and sherry influences of resinous spices (cloves, ginger) are balanced with prune and raisin dried fruits and further complexed with chocolate orange. As with all expressions of The Macallan the deep mahogany colour is achieved without the addition of artificial colour - further proof that additive free is best.
Color: Deep auburn, like a gorgeous redhead
Nose: (Full strength)First a bitter tickle in the nose that turns sour and then finally sweet. Very interesting. Vanilla, oak, marzinpan and chocolate. Crême brulee, candied almonds, maple, demerara sugar. Does not prickle the nose as it could at this strength. Still, breathe carefully... (reduced) Chocolate cake, a French patisserie, strawberry essence, oranges, dust and the pages of old books, freshly stained wood. Hot or burnt hair, like the smell in a hair salon.
Body: Thick and pungent, softer and oiler when cut with water.
Palate: (Full strength)Dry wood, oaky, thick and pungent sherry influences of sweet dried fruits. Burnt sugar. Toasted chestnuts. Oak again. Long finish that is very warming, sweet, and woody. (reduced) More pleasant in the mouth, but seems to yield less flavour. Still nutty, flavours of wood resin, sweet sherry, prunes and raisins. Perhaps a light peat whiff? Smoke for sure.
Finish: Long finish that is very warming, sweet, and woody. Reduced, it has a shorter finish. I would advise against cutting it, if your ulcer can handle it... Probably just depends on mood.
No messing about, this is Macallan. Sherry, fruit, oak in beautiful elegant balance. Many people complain that Macallan's sherry casks kill the 'whisky', ie. the barley spirit character. At times I might agree, but that doesnt make this malt a failure as a whisky. Really gorgeous wintery stuff. It is a real star, and if you have the opportunity to get it at travel retail or UK duty free shops, it would be just silly to fly without.
Color: Red
Nose: A sherry attack. Promising
Palate: Nice sherry caracter, but not overpowered (the alcohol dominates too much).
Finish: Fiery, Hot, Burning Stuff..
Too much alcohol for me, but good sherry nose. Water seems not work well here.
Color: Slightly lighter in colour then the US 'no age' version; light amber.
Nose: What used to be classic Macallan. Fresh butter, sherry, cognac and sugar mixed together: Heaven! A muted whiff of alcohol. Oak. Banana's foster; vanilla bean in the background --slight citrus at the end. Candied orange peel? One of the most pleasant whisky from an olfactory perspective.
Body: Mouth coating and smooth as silk. You can feel the whisky undulate between your palate and tongue. It progresively takes over your palate. This one's hard to keep in check; a heavyweight bursting at the seams.
Palate: Smoke and sweetness at first. Intense development of flavours magnified by the alcohol. The citrus-orange note are in front. There is sweetness, then butter, sherry and tartness; citric acid perhaps? Beautiful balance!
Finish: Think nuclear cloud after the explosion. These echoes are deafening. The flavours reverbarate with intensity. Orange, Sherry, Malt.... And the the oak comes back. Palate is still coated with flavours.
This is Macallan how it used to be done: small spirit cut; 4 different kinds of yeast; golden promise barley and malt whisky "exclusively matured in sherry casks". Alas, this is no longer the case, since due to increasing price and scarcity, Macallan non longer insists on exclusive Sherry cask maturation... A Malt to cherish and savour, one of the original great speyside CS from the golden era of SMS.