The Macallan Experience

I may have only mentioned this once before, but I love scotch. Ladies, here me out. Scotch is not just grandpa's territory. It was an acquired taste though. At first I would make that scrunched up face like I just sucked on a lemon after each sip, but now I look forward to a smooth single malt scotch on the rocks or neat. I had heard it caused the least of a hangover due to the lack of sugar. I really put that theory to the test during BlogHer 10 and luckily it proved true. Soon I was acting like Anchorman's Ron Burgundy and singing, "I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly..."

This new found passion is why I was really excited to attend a private Macallan media tasting the other week. To help understand and describe the essence of The Macallan in Spanish oak and in American oak, they used an aroma oil kit. As a result, I got to go on a sensory adventure with perfumer Roja Dove and David Cox, director of The Macallan’s Fine and Rare whiskies.


I learned that to be considered a Scotch it has to be stored in oak and has to be at least 40% alcohol. Like wine, the more it ages the more mature it gets and richer in flavor as it has more time to absorb the flavors found in the oak. The oldest bottle of The Macallan was 64 years and it sold at auction for charity for ... you won't believe how much ... $460,000! I hope it tasted amazing.


In the end, I came away with an idea of the type of The Macallan that best suited me, which was The Macallan 15 years old in American fine oak! It's a light color, smelling floral and a bit of cinnamon, it has a deep rich chocolate, with a hint of orange and tropical fruit flavor. Most of all, it was smooth and not spicy or fiery like some scotch whiskey. However, this last week whenever I was out I only saw the 12 or 18 year. Hopefully, more bars will start carrying the 15 year too.