Macallan 1861

[Iain]

From the Mac website...

"In 1998 The Macallan acquired a very rare bottle of 1861 from a private collection, and presented Bob Dalgarno, Whisky Maker, with the formidable challenge of replicating it. "I drew a tiny sample from the bottle with a hypodermic syringe inserted through the long driven cork. It was surprisingly fresh and vibrant, clearly The Macallan, but full of youthful vitality. "

There seems to be a distinctive "fresh and youthful" theme to these replicant bottlings...

[Admiral]

I actually tried this last night with some malt-loving friends.

Whatever the background of the whiskies on which the replicas are based, I have to say that the 1861 replica is a very, very interesting dram, and an interesting Macallan.

The nose was very tightly locked and not even a splash of water opened much up, other than being sweet.

But boy, did the palate deliver...rich, juicy, sweet, sherried malt, with typical Macallan-like raisins & fruit. I also got jaffa, and another colleague at the tasting table got "orange chocolate", so I guess we both got the same notes arising out of citrus and chocolate.

Despite the rich flavours on the palate, the body itself was somewhat thin, and the finish was not long.

But it was a fascinating and very tasty dram, nonetheless.

(Certainly not worth the price tag, but not many special releases are these days!)

Cheers,
Admiral

[Iain]

Great! A Macallan replica of someone else's very good dram!

Wouldn't it be nice if they could tell you who made the original!

The point is valid - it's a good dram. But let's stop pretending it's got anything to do with vintage Macallans, investments, and ludicrous greed-is-good UK£100 price tags...

[lexkraai]

As I said in another whisky forum, the chances of the original 4 bottles on which the replicas are based being genuine given that 11 out of the 11 bottles that were submitted to testing are fakes is 1 in 10,000.

Cheers, Lex