Macallan 18 yo

[patrick dicaprio]

I recently had some of the Macallan 18 yo. What a great whisky!! One thing i found curious was that i tasted a distinctly oily body with i felt was a strong apricot flavor on the tongue. I have read a few notes on this and none mention this. Has anyone here tasted apricots or something similar?

Pat

[Admiral]

Patrick,

I frequently detect the smell and taste of dried fruits in Macallan 18yo, particularly dried apricots.

As for oiliness, well, Macallan is certainly a more full-bodied dram than some others. The texture of a malt on one's palate can vary, depending on what you've recently eaten, time of day, etc, etc. Again, finding it oily (relative to some other whiskies you might have tried), is not unexpected.

Cheers,
Admiral

[Lawrence]

It's that odd! I had a couple of drams of Macallan 18 in a pub yesterday with lunch and my girlfriend nosed the glass and one of the smells she ID'd was apricots.

[Tom]

Aye, women and their noses. My wife doesnt drink whisky at all, or alcohol in general actually. But i let her nose all my drams because she has a "clean" perceptive with no prejudice of cask, brand etc. often she finds aromas much more precise then i do.

[Deactivated Member]

Hi Patrick,

The Macallan is well know for their good vintages and whisky's for more then 180 years. The Macallan became quite famous with their use of sherry casks such as Oloroso, Amontilado, Fino, Manzanilla etc.

The fact that you had a distinct oily body is a direct result of their small stills they use for their new make spirit. You need a very big and robust spirit to compete with first fill Oloroso sherry casks. Another thing is they have one of the smallest cuts I've ever seen before.

The apricot you taste can be traced back from the distilate aswell, the distilate from the Macallan seems to be quite fruity, oily, malty and above all nutty. Well when such spirit has an interaction with the sherry wood it can be resulted in wood spices, toffee/vanilla/chocolate, dried fruits, fruity etc etc. The strong apricotflavor is a direct result from the cask, the fruityness from the spirit slowly merged with the ex sherry cask and finally became an apricot flavor(in very simple words).

It's true that apricot flavors can be detect in the 18yo, lots of other flavors can be detect aswell. It's not uncommon that you taste dried raisins or perhaps tutti frutti. Depending on the situation such as straight from the marrying cask or straight from the bottle, the flavors can vary in an 18yo. If you dare to dilute your Macallan to say 20% abv, you'll notice a scala of aromas and flavors wich will give you quite interesting data.

I did had some apricot before in a Macallan and it wasn't an 18yo but a 15yo vintage from The Macallan. Odd? No, it's quite common if you use a sherry cask with the right type of spirit.

I hope that this contribution helps a little for you Patrick.

Cheers,

Erik

[Tyson]

Has anyone tried the new "Triangle Label" Macallan 18? If so, is it as big of a jump in quality over the old "Rectangle Label" as the 12 year old is? I got a new bottling of the 12 year old (with the triangle label) and was very impressed with it, particularly compared to the "old style" labeled 12 year old bottle. I'm hoping this jump in quality can be found in the new 18 year olds as well.

[Deactivated Member]

Hi Tyson,

I was lucky to try some new classic Macallan and the new triangle stuff is really great. Because of the Fine Oak, they can conentrate now more on the sherry styled Macallan. The 18yo Classic is still my favorite, nice rich of aroma and full of flavor because of the first-fill Oloroso they have used for it.

Cheers,

Erik