Scotch Whisky Review #250: The Macallan Archival Series Folio #6

Distillery: Macallan

Region: Speyside

Age: NAS

ABV: 43.00%

Color: 1.4, Tawny.

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Nose: It’s quite musty, though that lightens up with time. It’s sweet and fruity. Green grapes dominate along with notes of zesty lemon and lemon grass. A bit of fresh hay wraps things up.

Palate: There’s very, very little going on here. It tastes muted and overly diluted from the start. There’s a little bit of citrus in the form of a citrus cleaner but really that is all. With a drop of water, the more astringent nature of the citrus cleaner goes away but really all that leaves behind is a mildly (and I use that term loosely) flavored drink..

Finish: Far longer than it needs to be. It’s astringent with more of that citrus cleaner lingering.

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Conclusion: I’m not sure why I pounced for a sample of this special release by Macallan. Perhaps I was hoping for an actual whisky, which I know they can produce if they wanted. Perhaps I was just stricken by the fear of missing out. In the end, curiosity killed the cat in this occasion. There is virtually nothing about this that is recognizable as a whisky beyond the nose. It starts off quite promising, with some lovely notes of fresh fruits and herbs. To call the rest of it underwhelming would be perhaps the understatement of the millennia. It’s bland and flavorless. Honestly, if I had taken a swig of this blind, I might have guessed it was a bad soda water that had gone flat. The finish is astringent and really unpleasant. With a drop of water, things get even more bland somehow. I was a little worried about the state of my sense of taste after having this so tested it with another whisky in my collection, turns out the sense of taste is fine. Would I buy a bottle? Not to drink, which really just sums up the current state of Macallan.

Final Score: 60.

Scotch Whisky Review #250, Speyside Review #96, Whisky Network Review #385

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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.