This was a release of a whopping 27500 bottles in April/May 2018 and was £195.

It’s easy to say it’s boring, safe, pedestrian. But it’s amazing how few distilleries can achieve a whisky like this.

Ah, macallan, the whipping boy of the whisky world. Too posh to be forgiven like Johnnie Walker for their overpriced offerings. Too successful to at building an empire from the ground up and aligning and making a brand synonymous with the perception of quality. So easy to hate, so easy to be jealous of, so easy to overlook. When the world wants punk rock, Michelin stared ego-wanking chefs, extreme flavours and esoteric and niche as a badge of honour it’s the old guard you chuck rocks at just to virtue signal that you’re cool and cutting edge and - an idiot.

Let’s be honest, most of us drink whisky because it is fulfilling, sensory, rewarding, relaxing, joyous and uplifting. It’s soothes our weary bones, make conversation flow more smoothly, takes the edge off a long day and slows down time. It’s a miracle liquid. And The Macallan has its share of magical bottles, more than we’d perhaps care to admit sometimes.

I tried Rare Cask recently for the first time. It’s expensive. It’s very, very smooth and refined. It isn’t challenging but in the same way that a Rolls Royce isn’t sporty. It was a lovely dram. I’ve yet to swim further up stream at Macallan but this really ticks all the distillery characteristics off one by one. Sherry - bags of it. Wood - beautiful carpentry. Unctuous spices - like walking through a bazaar. Balance - perfectly poised. It’s not exciting in the least, but you know what, I loved it. Loved it. Boring, smooth, silky, cocoa and sherry all over the palate. A bottle of this would go very quickly between friends and maybe that’s the point of something like this. To have something that doesn’t challenge because its mission is something else entirely.

Great whisky can be many different things to many different people but something like the Rare Cask will easily please a lot of them. Would I buy it? Hmm, probably not, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a winner. If they ripped open its Savile Row shirt and put some hair on its chest and bottled it at 55% it would be an Oliver Reed or Richard Burton, as it stands it’s very much a Roger Moore, we all say how we didn’t like his Bond but we all secretly still loved him.

Fifty Casks

At Macallan they describe the Rare Cask as legendary. The Malt Master only selects the very best casks fort his vatting and in their own words only 1% of all that lies in their warehouses is good enough for it. I’m not sure that is such a good marketing strategy as it sounds as if the other 99% is rubbish. Well, not exactly, but you know what I mean. Fans aplenty, though, because after the Red and Black editions, there is now a series or Rare Cask being released, albeit with a batch number. The third one was just released when I wrote this, but I will try batch 1. Every new batch is vatted from only fifty casks.

Good nose! Pleasantly dark & sweet on blood oranges, raisins, honey, dark chocolate with banana filling, roasted chestnut, red fruit and swoodsmoke. Very rich.

Despite the light body, the arrival is nice on bittersweet oranges, raisins and honey. The spices remind me of nutmeg and ginger, but there is also a bitterness in the guise of walnuts and grape pith. Chewing tobacco appears. Hint of cold coffee in the background. It cannot completely fulfill the promise of the nose, but is a very nice Macallan nonetheless. Could have done with a little more body, though.

The finish is medium long, honeysweet with a slight prickle from nutmeg and black pepper.

Lovely Macallan that lacks just a bit of body. Bottled at cask strength, this could have been a monster. I like monsters.

Impressions of soft sherry, fresh berries, fresh oak wood and a little nut (peanut or cashew) stretch from the nose over the palate to a mid-length finish. Overall, too thin, without surprises and real characteristics.

N20 P21 F20 B21

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