It’s always a special treat when I get to go to a Macallan tasting. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I notice that I appreciate whisky a lot more than the last time. After the tasting last week, it was one of my first thoughts: how much my appreciation has grown. I remember the first time I went to a tasting, my experience and how I couldnt really tell the difference between each one. That’s why I would definitely suggest hitting up whisky tastings whenever possible, to help develop your palate.
The latest is a single malt offering, the Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old, which is new to the Canadian market. This particular whisky is created with new oak from America that gets sent to Spain where the barrels are crafted and then seasoned with sherry before travelling to the Macallan distillery. When the primed barrels reach the distillery, they’re filled with new spirit and matured for twelve years.
In comparison to the other Macallan products, I find this one very balanced. It’s not quite smokey and not too tart. It has a nice, warm taste to it that definitely has the smell and taste of sweet notes like burnt sugar (caramel/toffee). I like the way that it is so smooth and does not leave too much of an aftertaste. I’d imagine this to be served neat or on the rocks, I wouldn’t personally use this to mix drinks, but I’m sure a world class bartender could.
The Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old retails for about $85.99 (Canadian) and is available at the BC Liquor store, along with independent ones across BC.
During the tasting, we were served a fantastic cocktail called the 1824 Gold Cocktail. I found this cocktail to be very enjoyable to drink – very dry overall, not too sweet and not too smokey. So I’m also sharing the recipe with you:
1824 Gold Cocktail
45 ml The Macallan Gold
45 ml Noiliy Prat Ambre
10 ml Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
2 dashes Dale DeGroff’s Pimento Bitters
Stirred, strained, on the rocks with lemon zest.
For more information on The Macallan, check out their website here: https://www.themacallan.com/
