Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 40.2%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry
Chillfiltered: Yes
Added coloring: No
Owner: Edrington Group
Average price: € 300.00
Official website: www.themacallan.com
Vote: 81/100
Incarnation of spring for the second bottling in the third edition of the Harmony Collection, in a Travel Retail version (and thus available ‘only’ in airport shops), with similar ageing but lacking detail.
Speaking of its autumn sibling, I have already illustrated the characteristics of this duo and how the sense of these bottlings lies more in the narrative surrounding them and less (much less) in the content, so let’s pour it into the glass and taste.
Tasting Notes
The nose does justice to its name, with floral (heather, hyacinth) and herbaceous (damp grass, tea leaves) notes with mineral intrusions of wet stone. The fruity part expresses itself in fresh, crisp brushstrokes on impressions of peach, cranberry, white melon, dried apricot, acacia honey, almonds and a faint note of crème fraîche. Deep down, maple syrup and brown sugar. Captivating and evocative.
On the palate it has a light body in which ginger biscuits, marzipan and sugar icing hold sway, with the herbaceous side pushed into the background and emerging (but not too much) in length, embodied in tea leaves and tobacco. Honey, caramel, grapefruit, spices (pepper, nutmeg, aniseed) appear in random order in the background.
Quite short and dry finish of marzipan, spices, meringue, grapefruit.
Like its brother (and most contemporary Macallan), it offers an interesting, rich nose combined with an ethereal, out-of-focus palate, in this case even worse than the Amber Meadow. You can’t say it’s ‘wrong’ because you can’t accuse it of disharmony or unpleasantness, it’s just… harmless.