Macallan 15 1992 Murray McDavid

Second night of tasting, second night of taking time away from the pile of Bruichladdich Port Charlotte samples that scream out all at once and then continue screaming because my tongue hasn’t shot laser beams at them yet.

What, how do you taste whisky?

So I sat down, and /u/devoz offered me a Macallan. Pretty nice on a human level. If I was a autistic child who freaks out because of fandom then I’d slap him in the face and walk out. See also: Internet commenters.

However he assured me that Macallan 15 1992 Murray McDavid was different. First thing: It was bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery. I went looking, and from what I could find Murray McDavid is located at Coleburn distillery. However I’ve read about Bruichladdich having barrels from other distilleries before (in one case, an Irish whiskey [Oh my Stars and Garters!]).

So it’s a sherried Macallan at an age that I’m usually iffy about. That was bottled at the distillery I enjoy lately. And it was good enough to end up with Devoz.

So I’m confused. Let’s just drink the whisky.

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Speyside

Distilled at: Macallan Distillery

Cask Type: Refill Sherry

Bottled at: Bruichladdich Distillery, 2008

Limited Release: 210 bottles

Abv: 46%

Colour: 5Y 8/8

Nose: Brown sugar, sulphur, orange peel, cherry, coal

As typical with Macallan, the sherry cask seems to have lead the charge here. And in this case the sherry cask was good, with a balanced amount of sulphur, acid, and molasses notes.

There’s an earthiness/smokiness at the end of this one. Did Bruichladdich holding this, or even just bottling it do something? Probably not, but in my fan-fic they did.

Taste: Strawberry, brine, butter, cherry, wood, guava/grape

Again, very fruity. Stronger than I normally attribute to 46%, this is the right abv. for this one. I’m guessing it was a PX cask as I enjoy it. Yeah, I’m vain, I’m glad you asked and thought of me.

It’s like a cherries jubilee with a butter/burnt flavour and the rich red fruits. Nice tropical notes near the end.

Finish: Butter, mint, cashew, banana, roast pork, ginger

An odd mixture of flavours compared to the rest of the dram. We have a nutty, almost funk finish. Almost funky. It goes on more of a dry element here, no red fruits.

That said, it reminds me that Macallan is a Speyside, which I forget sometimes. Maybe that was the point.

Conclusion: Finishing with a reminder that yes, there is a Santa Claus, and yes, Macallan can act like the rest of the region is an odd one, and lowered my score over all. I was enjoying the whole sherried side of it. The stronger, well balanced dram with bigger than normal Macallan flavours.

On the other hand, it’s not a bad finish. End of the day, the finish is what you’re going to discuss. The nose and taste follow closely to the Macallan profile, with more strength to it. The finish is what will make you decide. I’m split, so I split my points on it.

81/100

Scotch review #738, Speyside review #206, Whisky Network review #1222