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Macallan Royal Marriage Scotch....

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Glenn Mackles

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Macallan Royal Marriage Scotch....

by Glenn Mackles » Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:29 pm

When I retired my department gave me a bottle of Macallan Royal Wedding scotch. This scotch was bottled in 1981 as a very limited edition in honor of the wedding of Charles and Diana. It is a blend of whiskeys distilled in 1948 and 1961 (the birth years of Charles and Diana.). I had been saving it for the unnamed "special occasion." Well, last night, in honor of both my 73rd trip around the sun and the receipt of some good news about a health scare... the occasion had arrived.

The whiskey is both excellent and a huge surprise. I have drunk a fair bit of Macallan's recent product and much as I like it I would never describe it as peaty or smokey. But the Royal Wedding was both... peaty and smokey. If I had to compare it to another single malt, I'd say it tasted a bit like Lagavulin.... but smooth beyond description. It also has some fruit notes...a smell of stewed prunes and not a hint of an alcohol taste.

I have seen this whiskey offered on the web for over $3000.... In my opinion... very glad I got to taste it but not worth that kind of money. To me a bottle would have to be life changing to be worth that kind of money....(No DRC for me.). In fact if it hadn't been a gift I might have been tempted to sell it.

Hope all are well.
"If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong." Mo Udall
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Jenise

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Re: Macallan Royal Marriage Scotch....

by Jenise » Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:59 pm

Wow, what a thing to drink. I'm proud of you for valuing the gift, and congratulations on escaping the health scare.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Bill Spohn

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Re: Macallan Royal Marriage Scotch....

by Bill Spohn » Thu Dec 09, 2021 6:12 pm

Nice you got to taste it.

The yuppie revolution in single malt marketing (every different wood treatment known to man, catchy names etc.) has resulted in a plethora of 'special' bottlings. The fact is that a distilled product only changes with time in wood, and when it is put in glass, it is like being in suspended animation - it isn't going to change no matter how long you hold it.

They can also become what the French call 'boisée', where the effects of really long aging in wood dries the whiskey out (happens to other liquors like Cognac too). Sadly, the general public view age as an indicator of quality even tough what's in the bottle hasn't changed since it went into the bottle 20, 30, whatever years ago, so they get silly prices for anything with age listed on it.

You got the perfect chance to drink something made decades ago without buying it! Interesting that it tasted as if it were an Islay malt given that Macallan is a Highland distillery.

If my doctor ever tells me that I can never again drink alcohol, it would be a real mental wrestling match when I rushed home, to decide whether to open my Bowmore 25 or 85 Sassicaia first.....

Congrats on your birthday (and retirement)

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