The Macallan 18 is a Speyside whisky. Macallan uses sherry oak casks from the Jerez region of Spain for a two year finish.
It has a scent of wood and sherry, and the main flavours are consistent with its nose. The sherry makes it taste quite unlike a straight-ahead scotch, which makes me unlikely to drink it except for special occasions. As finished scotches go, however, it's very subtle. The Macallan 18 doesn't taste as flavoured as The Glenlivet French Oak.
This whisky has a sweet, charcoal finish. I can recommend it highly.
More notes:
After tasting it with water: some of the flavor moves into the nose, separating the sweetness on the tongue from an intense charcoal flavor in the sinuses. The taste of sherry is greatly diminished. I prefer this scotch with water.
Imagine a peat bog. Hold it in your mind. See it. Feel it. Smell it.
Got it? Good.
Now burn it. Burn it all. Reduce it to fine lumps of charcoal.
Take the breath of heaven, mix with finely-powdered gold, liquefy, and pour through the aforementioned charcoal lumps.
Add the slight taste of smoke on your lover's skin at the end of a night at the bar, and then the warmth of sunlight on your body after rising from the North Atlantic on a hot spring day, when the Gulf Stream doesn't help and the water is just above freezing.
Toss in a hint of burning underground veins of coal; deep, mysterious, hot.
Mix well.
Magically transport to Islay, Scotland, where helpful folk place it in bottles and casks (wise ones) to be sold abroad and drunk at home.
Lagavulin is all this, and more.
Glenmorangie is also a fabulous straight whisky. This bottle managed, even this late in the game, to surprise with a very round and full mouthfeel (that word always reminds me of a friend's Golden Retriever, whose enthusiasm was such that every object brought near her needed to be evaluated for this quality). There was a bit of licorice in this, the color being a middling golden brown, and the nose was brisk. Unlike some of the more subtle whiskys, which had a faint odor, or some of the stronger ones whose aroma was dominated by either smoke or alcohol, this one has an excellent schnozz. I enjoyed just sniffing it for a time, and then rolling it about the mouth reflectively. Despite this, I had to slug the last ounce or so just to evaluate the slam deep in the stomach as it headed for ignition...and I pronounced it good. Others agreed.
the Glenrothes Speyside Vintage Malt 21, and I know now what a loss that has been. This spirit came attractively bottled with a label showing its vintage and bottling information and was an amazing rich copper, almost, in color. The flavor was just amazing, and this was judged by our crew the best 'straight whisky' out of the bunch. It has a complexity that you have to hold it in your mouth for several seconds to find, and even then, different amounts will produce different balances of yum. There was a slight vanillin, perhaps from the Sherry Oak casks, and several florals that weren't individually identifiable. Overlaying it was a sharp spicy wood, almost cedarlike without being oily. A very wide taste. I'd walk a damn long way for one of these, and if I had one of my fave stogies, too, well...
The Glenlivet French Oak 12 was one of the evening favorites. The rough edges of the still-slightly-young Scotch are not so much muted as complemented by the complex wood flavoring imparted by the French Oak finishing. The Scotch is 'finished' - i.e. spends the last year or two, perhaps - in Cognac barrels of French oak from the Limousin region. The resulting woody nose rides alongside the slightly sharp burn of the malt, and together they produce a flavor quite distinctive from the other tipples of the tasting. Highly recommended as a flavorful way to finish a mild but satisfying meal, or to enjoy with a cigar as most Scotches excel with tobacco.
the Glenlivet 18. A very, very nice whisky - smooth, with the strong smoke and malt rounded down, burnished to a mellow shine without any real acridity or sharp burn. The strength is apparent if you hold it in your mouth, but at no time does it feel like it's trying to damage you - just educate you, heh. A straightforward flavor, with some less complex florals and herbals, but those serve to accentuate the malt and peat rather than overlay it.
Dalwhinnie. A Northern highlands drink, it is a more traditional Scotch, whose flavors tend heavily towards smoke and malt. This is in no way a bad thing. It is a lighter tone as well, though; so if you are apprehensive of perhaps imbibing the liquid remains of a firepit, don't worry (that can happen with Lagavulin and ain't necessarily a bad thing). It has a more solid malt base than the Glenkinchie, but in a straightforward way, and not too invasive - the fluid can be drunk in larger swigs without suffering nasal or esophagal burnout.
Glenkinchie. A Lowlands malt, it is a paler gold, perhaps four or five shades darker than straw. Sometimes tagged a 'ladies' drink' due to its mild flavor, this appellation (or, really, snipe) misses the point entirely. The flavor of Glenkinchie isn't in a strong, mouthwatering punch, but contained almost entirely in the nose. Sniffing the stuff won't do you much good; you have to take a sip. Do so, however, with your nose open, and breath out through it...let it have air. There are all manner of slight florals embedded in there, and just enough smoke and peat to let you know you're consuming a fine scotch. The perfume of it is why it's drunk.
The Balvenie Portwood 21 is delicious.
It's a Speyside malt - the distillery is next door to Glenfiddich. It's a nice, round, slightly fruity flavor. It's incredibly smooth. The finish is very dry and woody - cedar perhaps?
It would be fantastic with a pipe - there's a little charcoal in the finish.
The port casks don't change the flavor of this whisky nearly as much as the Cognac casks do with The Glenlivet's French Oak. The end result is a great straight-ahead whisky.