Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 40%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Sherry
Chillfiltered: Yes
Added coloring: No
Owner: Edrington Group
Average price: € 650.00
Official website: www.themacallan.com
Vote: 68/100
Brother of the Rich Cacao released the previous year, this second bottling of the first Harmony Collection was released in 2022 for the travel retail market only, taking up the theme of chocolate evocations in collaboration with Casa Cacao of Girona.
The alcohol content plummets to a minimum for a whisky that should lead towards milk chocolate, with the maturation declared as ‘in ex sherry’ without any other details, while ample space is given to the packaging made from 100% waste products from chocolate processing: as is now standard practice for Macallan, the focus is on the narrative (the container) and not the content.
Since I cannot chew the box, I unfortunately have to adapt to the whisky alone.
Tasting Notes
All the acidity of red fruits explodes on the nose, a juice of currants, gooseberries, wild strawberries and raspberries that gradually gives way to notes of praline almonds, ginger biscuits, nutmeg, cinnamon, caramel, mocha. And yes, milk chocolate, but to such an extent that it’s certainly not the protagonist. Over time, a vegetal vein becomes more present, while a slight alcoholic sting remains.
On the palate, the fatuous texture still expresses berry tones, with a distinctly vegetal and alcoholic core that soon takes over, leaving little to the subtleties. Flashes of nuts, sweet liquorice, coffee, caramel. And no chocolate, sorry.
The finish is short and dry, of tannins, alcohol, red fruits, coffee, wood.
I haven’t tasted a Macallan this insignificant since Lumina. And I think that’s all there is to be said.