Scotch Review #112: The Macallan Edition No. 5

Distillery: Macallan

Region: Speyside

ABV: 48.5%

Age: NAS

Price: $14 for a pour during Happy Hour.

Color: 1.3, Russet/Muscat. Natural Color.

Nose: It’s really light and delicate, very hard to pin point much. You get some malt sweetness and muscat grapes. Not bad but it’s so light that I nearly missed it all, thanks to /u/RoseFromEmbers for the help on sniffing this one.

Palate: Nice medium bodied mouthfeel. There are a lot of oak tannins in this one and it makes for a slightly bitter dram. The classic Macallan notes of orange peels and malt also appear with some notes of muscat. It is rather hot though, partially due to some ginger notes, and doesn’t ever quite settle down.

Finish: Unacceptably short. There’s a tiny hint of ginger, orange peel, and oak tannins left over from the palate but it’s gone in a flash.

Conclusion: I’ve been a big fan of the Macallan Editions series mainly because all of them had been a showcase of how good of a whisky Macallan could make if they tried. This one though honestly just feels like a slightly upgraded Macallan 12 Sherry Oak (the newer version that I absolutely did not care for) with a few more fruity notes in muscat grapes and orange peels. At the end of the day, it’s lazy, uninspired, and ultimately an utter disappointment (though I imagine if you like the new Sherry Oak you’d probably like this one more than I did). It really appears that Macallan spent all of their time working on their fancy new Pantone color instead of working on making a whisky, which is nothing short of an absolute farce. Would I buy a bottle? Not for drinking purposes, maybe out of market speculation.

Final Score: 74.

Scotch Whisky review #112, Speyside Whisky Review #42, Whisky Network Review #144

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.