Macallan 12 Double Cask 40%
Region: Speyside
ABV: 40%
E150: Yes
Chill-filtered: Yes
Cask Type: ex-Bourbon, ex-Sherry.
Colour: Gold
Nose: Rich stewed red fruits, raisin, plum, bosc pear, icing sugar, soft oak, touch of mineral and wax.
Palate: Syrup, red grape, honey, malt, sugar, oak, cereal, pepper, baking spice.
Finish: Medium+ finish, ginger, pepper, caramel.
Score: 81/100
I went into this dram with very low expectation, since recent years we’ve been drowned with crappy NAS expression that I didn’t even bother writing up the review, despite trying everything from the Amber to Rare Cask. Here in America-Lite (Canada), we get the 40% expression instead of the 43% of our neighboring country.
Anyway, the 12 Year Double Cask performed surprisingly well. As I’ve been drinking mostly cask strength releases lately, and slowly tightening my scoring after trying more higher-end drams than I have previously. I expect this to be another watery release that I’ve come to expect from a 40%.
The nose is sherry dominant, fairly rich, full of stewed fruits, raisins notes that you expect from a sherry influenced whisky, with a touch of bourbon cask influence. Promising so far. The palate is also a big surprise, syrupy, the bourbon cask is showing more of its strength here, leading up to a spicy finish.
This is by no means very complex, but overall as a package is rather satisfying, crowd pleasing dram.