The Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society

Speyside region – 43%ABV – 750ml bottle in the US, 70cl in the UK and elsewhere – £70 | $90-$120 | €84

Wow to you oh whisky peeps, for a dram was bought by me to have (because the notes, they sounded so good).  Let him who hath understanding wreckon the number of the dram [that turned me on to The Macallan].  For it is a Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America number.  It’s number is twenty-four point one-one-one.  (sorry, my inner Iron Maiden fan could not help himself).

I am so very thankful to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America for helping to open my eyes once more to The Macallan – for that review, click here.

I received a sample of The Macallan 18yr early last week (special thanks to Igal!) and was not sure what to expect.

I’ve mentioned in the past that their standard 12yr didn’t do much for me (again, I’ve not had their 12yr expression in a bit more than 2 years) so I was not expecting much from their 18yr bottling.

After pouring the whisky into my Glencairn, here’s what I got:

On the nose – Plump dollops of sherry notes travel up my nose.  These notes are covered in chocolate and there is more than a hint of oak and vanilla.

Dried fruits are here — think prunes, dates and fig.  The more I smell it, the more I like it.  Leather & suede.  Big grapes appear in the final sniff.

On the mouth – The first thing I get here is sulphur but that is quickly pushed aside (thankfully) to reveal an incredibly smooth chocolate note.

Pipe tobacco and leather jackets.

Root veggies galore!  I’m even getting a hint of beets here – like whisky borscht (it’s slight but, I am getting it).

The smoothness of this whisky is really remarkable and, it’s nice and chewy too.

Finish – Medium length but there are some long lasting bitter notes to it that really offset everything I just smelled and tasted.  This, I think, is a good thing.

Yes, it’s a good thing.

In sum – This oozes of luxury and all things “comfort”.  This is something to break out for Shabbat (non-Jews, Shabbat is the Hebrew word for the Sabbath which many Jews, myself included, treat both as a holy day and a holiday – read here for more info) for sure!

Speyside region – 59.7%ABV – 750ml bottle – Exclusive Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America

I am a proud new member of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America (from here on out to be referred to as SMWSA).  I’ve got a few friends who’ve been members for a while now and I was going back and forth; should I join? shouldn’t I join?, etc…

For those of you unfamiliar with the society, the SMWSA is the American arm of the parent society based in Leith, Scotland.  Every month they offer up new exclusive whiskies to their members.  Whiskies you can find NOWHERE else and they are all Single Cask, Cask Strength expressions.  Their whiskies come from over 125 different distilleries (Most are Scottish distilleries but they now include Japanese expressions such as Yamazaki, Nikka and Hakushu).

Back to my becoming a member — again, I was really hemming and hawing over whether or not to join the society.  YES I would have access to these great whiskies but hey, there’s a membership fee involved…  It wasn’t until I started talking to, and began reading reviews from, my fellow whisky blogger Jason of Guid Scotch Drink that I decided to bite the bullet and join.  This is perhaps the tastiest bullet I’ve ever bitten.

For information on the SMWSA including their current whiskies and how to join in on the fun, click here.  If you are outside of the US, click here for international branches.

The first bottle I got from the SMWSA was a 13yr Macallan which was matured in a first fill sherry butt (tee-hee… when will I get past the whole ‘laughing at the word “butt”‘ thing?  Never, me thinks).  This is high octane killer whisky!

On the nose – A word to the wise: give this whisky some time to breathe.  It was bottled at 59.7%ABV so it’s… strong stuff.  It’ll trim your nose hairs if you let it.

After a good 10 minutes, this beauty (and, it IS a beauty) opens up like a lotus flower.  Indian food galore!  Mango chutney, heavy on the ginger.  A hint of green mint sauce with a nice amount of spice.

Then some nice balsamic vinaigrette notes with a side of green plastic toy soldiers.  Banana nut bread, banana peel.  Bananarama.

On the mouth – Sour and spicy cabbage (think Kim Chee) and salted nut mix.

Tremendous mouth feel – chewy but, oh so drying and in a really good way (sherry wine tannins, hard at work).

Nutty goodness.

Finish – Wow, all of those great nuts (think stale filbert minus the saltiness I detected earlier) and bananas keep coming back up; over and over, it’s near endless.

In sum – Quite brilliant, really.  There is so much going on here to occupy my brain and senses but, at the same time, I could find myself easily sipping on this one without even thinking about it.  Scary that a whisky at 59.7% ABV could be an everyday drinker for me!  This whisky made the top place in the SMWSA’s “President’s Choice” list of the April outturn and I can see why.  Fabulous.

Speyside region – 50% ABV – 70cl (though my sample was 3cl) – $£€??  I can’t find this bottle anywhere online – if someone could let me know where to find one, please say so in the comments section because I want a bottle.  STAT.

My knowledge of The Macallan is quite limited there’s a reason why…

Firstly, The Macallan is one of those whiskies that you hear about when you are first getting into whiskies (this and Johnnie Walker Blue).  The impression you get is that it is the gold standard of whiskies.  My tasting of a recent 12yr expression proved otherwise for me.  Ok, so when I say recent, I mean about two years ago.  That 12yr expression seemed like a matchstick-infused-sherry-bomb with WAY too much wineyness to it.  I’ve had a couple other Macallans since (to be honest, I don’t remember what they were but I remember not liking them so much) and they were just not up my alley.

The times they are, becoming different…

Enter the Old Malt Cask 18yr 1987 expression.  I’m going to let the notes do the talking:

On the nose — Sharp sherried notes (the fruits thereof not the wine in-which), stewed carrots and fresh paint, drying nose, white grapes and chocolate, almond paste/marzipan.

On the mouth — Silken and delicious.  Holy crap.

The mouth feel is stupendous. Lots of big chocolate notes.

No overwiney sherry with this Macallan!! Some very nice fresh tobacco, heated butter, salad greens and raspberry (slight), spiced honey, fabulous — Ab-Fab.

Finish — Medium Long and endlessly chewy.

In sum – A lovely expression from start to finish.  Complex and contemplative as well as an everyday drinker.  This has restored my faith in the Macallan (again, my familiarity with The Macallan is quite limited).

I’ve heard their “Fine Oak” line is quite different from their standard 12, 18, etc… expressions but, I’ve yet to try that line.  I can tell you, however, this whisky will make you very happy.