The Macallan Cask Strength

[caption id="attachment_57" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Finished the opened bottle writing the review - good thing I had a spare on hand.[/caption]

Macallan is known for its single malt scotches aged in sherry casks from Spain. Whisky always picks up flavors from the wooden casks it's aged in, and wooden casks always absorb flavors and liquid from the spirits aged in them.

Aging a whisky in a cask previously used for another spirit means that the whisky will pick up flavors, aroma and even some of the color from the bit of that other spirit that seeped into the cask staves.

In Macallan's case, their whisky mates wonderfully well with the sweet sherry left in the casks, and creates what many consider the standard for scotches aged in used sherry casks.

The Macallan Cask Strength comes with no age statement, and is the product of mixing many barrels, potentially of differing ages. However, it is not watered down or chill filtered. It weighs it at heft 58.4% abv, or 116.8 proof .

In the glass, it's a wonderful mahogany color. I highly recommend adding water to your glass to cut back the alcohol and let the other flavors and aromas come through. It's worth noting that Macallan's standard distillery expressions are bottled at 43% abv (86 proof), and many folks feel that even those whiskies need a splash of water to bring out their best flavor.

With some water, the aroma smooth and pleasant to the nose, with an inviting sweetness. On the tongue, Macallan Cask Strength has a wonderful weight: it's not overly heavy, but it feels substantial.

The flavor is a rich mix of sherry and malt sweetness blended with highland scotch fire and tempered oak spiciness. It starts rich and sweet and melts to the a pleasant fire and spice combo that lingers for a while, joined by some residual sherry notes.

Macallan Cask Strength is an excellent whisky, and makes a great addition to any whisky lover's bar (and thus, a great gift for a whisky lover).

If you already have Macallan 12-year-old single malt on your bar, I can't say that you have to add the cask strength. But, when that bottle of 12-year-old Macallan runs out, a bottle Cask Strength would make for a nice change of pace replacement, assuming the extra $30 is within your budget.

 

NC Readers - Old Weller Antique On Sale

One of the few good things about North Carolina's state-run liquor store system is that prices are the same throughout the state. Also, sales tend to be month-long affairs.

So, in June 2013, the NC ABC stores have put the Old Weller Antique I reviewed several weeks ago on sale for $19.50 a bottle, making it even more of an amazing value.

So go thou and buy!

Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select - Superb Bourbon

 

If you like bourbon, you owe it to yourself to give this one a try. It's both an excellent whiskey and and good value.

In fact, I'll cut to the chase. This is part of my top-flight bourbon quartet: 4 bourbons that stand above the rest . If you wish to give a bottle of bourbon as a gift to an aficionado, or want to stock your bar with a single top shelf bourbon, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select is a can't miss choice.

Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select comes in old-fashion looking, flat-sided, almost rectangular bottles. The 375 ml bottle, as result, hits quite nicely in backpack pockets, jacket pockets, or even in the deep snap pockets of some cargo pants. The 750 ml bottle contrasts nicely with all the round bottles on my bar. The 1.75 L, on the other hand, looks a bit ridiculous.

The bottles carry no age statement, but do carry a bottle number and a batch number. Each batch consists of a number of different barrels blended together to achieve the Distiller's Select taste. If you're really, really, really, obsessively into taste consistency, you could try tracking down only bottles from the same batch. Given that the of the blending of the barrels will effectively smooth over the barrel-to-barrel differences, I doubt it's worth the effort.

The whiskey inside is a deep amber. It's 90.4 proof, which means it's been lowered from cask strength. The aroma is sweet and spicy, and the flavor, straight, is refreshing blend of the same. It sips smoothly straight, the alcohol fire tempered by the sweet and spicy down to a pleasant heat. It's got a nice medium body - not too thin on the tongue, not too heavy. The finish is pleasant, but not overly long.

Add a splash of water, (really, it only takes a little) and the aroma loses a little spice and gains more sweet and caramel notes. Likewise, more caramel and vanilla come out in the flavor, along with stronger hints of pepper. The oakiness recedes somewhat in the initial tasting, only to assert itself a little more strongly in the finish. The heat also turns down a notch to nicely warm.

This truly a smooth sipping whiskey. It's triple distilled, which is much more common for Irish whisky than bourbon, using scottish stills, another rarity in the bourbon industry. The extra bit of spice comes from the increased propoportion of rye in the grain bill (72% corn, 10% malt, and 18% rye, according to the Woodford Reserve website).

A 750 ml of this retails for about $30 - $35. Since the flavor matches well against other bourbons and scotches that sell for $40-$60 a bottle, I consider this to be a solid value.

It has a permanent home on my bar - as soon a bottle is finished, it's replaced.

For comparison, I like Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select more than the Old Weller Antique and Willett bourbon's I have already reviewed. It's just a bit smoother, a bit more complex flavor wise, a bit more polished, a bit more everything good to me.