Macallan 12, old bottle early to mid-2000s, 43% abv.

Bartender said this bottling is about 20 years ago, but I can't seem to properly pinpoint when this was bottled or released... and I don't remember this design back in the 2000s.

Nose: dark chocolate, light raisins, raisin butter, bread, background of oak, very powerful for a young, low abv dram.

Palate: well balanced, initial palate has hints of wood and oak, builds up to dried fruit and a mid palate of overcooked rice, baked wood, spices, seasoning, more dried fruit, gets more oily too, back palate has some heated light soup. After a few sips and a good amount of time, the texrure becomes more oily, almost like melted butter, flavors tend to converge to a wood and dried fruit combination.

Finish: long, slightly drying, a little spicy, more dried fruit, later on its like red and green grape juice, grape jelly, lychees, leftover fruit rollups.

Dry glass: wax and wood.

Wow, this is a well done young scotch! I don't remember old mac12s being like this... Interestingly the palate shows an increasing contribution from dried fruit, which isn't overwhelming like sherry bombs, but more than enough to make me turn my head. That's one of the things I like about this, it's quite well balanced, nothing is overwhelming, texture and flavor on all aspects. I used to think Mac12s were like bad water, but this one is different. Extremely nice.

Grade: B+

Malt maniacs, 83 points on 3 reviews for b.~1995
Malt maniacs, 84 points on 13 reviews for b.~1999
Malt maniacs, Thomas Lipka, 81 points for b.~2002
Malt maniacs, 83 points on 4 reviews for b.~2003

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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