Tulisa Contostavlos?

In other news, a video has been leaked that may or may not show a woman I've never heard of from a show I don't watch providing a man I don't know with an act of oral satisfaction.

Nevertheless, I've read 15 articles on the matter.

My only takeaway:  Your BlackBerry?  You filmed it on your BlackBerry?  Was that to make certain the act would never be clearly viewed again?  For shame.

Monday Miscellaneous (Home and Prometheus)

Good morning?

1.  We have a brand new dishwasher.  Our brand new dishwasher melted a plastic lid.  The melted plastic lid filled our condo with acrid toxic plastic smoke last night.  Last night, I spent a number of hours trying to get the acrid toxic plastic smoke out of our condo.  Between the sleep deprivation and poisonous odors, mye brane not werking.

2.  Kristen, who slept through last night's plastic meltdown, did some awesome wall painting.  I intend to post some of these pictures soon.

3.  And we have new windows being installed early this AM.

4.  Do you like-a the movies?  Then you need to watch these two trailers for Prometheus, Ridley Scott's (probable) prequel to Alien.  Even if the film itself were to fall short of expectations, these trailers are good.

The first:

The second:


Happy Monday to you!

Single Malt Report: The Macallan 17 year old Fine Oak (w/guest reporter!)

Distillery: Macallan
Brand: Fine Oak
Age: minimum 17 years
Maturation: American oak bourbon casks, American oak sherry casks, Spanish oak sherry casks
Region: Speyside
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

After yesterday's pricing rant, you're still here?  Great!  You will now be rewarded with some positive thoughts.

As I briefly noted in Monday's post, the Fine Oak series is a newer brand for Macallan.  As opposed to their classic whisky style (spirit matured in only sherry-seasoned Spanish oak casks), the Fine Oak whiskys contain a combination of malts that have been matured in sherry-seasoned American Oak, ex-bourbon American Oak, as well as the sherried Spanish Oak.  The result is a completely different nose and flavor profile, one that lets the malt itself shine through.

Macallan has been pushing its Fine Oak pretty aggressively in some world markets, sometimes more so than their Sherry Oak.  That may be because some folks think the Fine Oaks are more immediately accessible.  That may be true, but that's just opinion again.  The age range for the Fine Oak series is 10, 12 (not in the US), 15, 17 (not in the UK), 18 (not in the US), 21, 25, 30.

James and I concluded the Macallan Taste Off with the 17-year-old Fine Oak.  (It's the lovely one in the champagne glass, above.)  It was enlightening to compare and contrast it with its Sherry Oak cousins, 12 and 18.

The notes!

James:

Color - Amber meets wheat, with a tiny hint of red
Nose - Green grapes in the background, some sherry, cedar chips
Palate - Vanilla, notes of fresh cut grass, brown sugar
Finish - Short; nuts, especially almonds

Me:

Color - Amber waves of grain
Nose - Rummy, salty bourbon vanilla, floral, malty, dusty, paper, caramel, brown sugar
Palate - Lighter texture than the Sherry 18, vanilla, citrus at the edges, toffee, lightly brown sugared
Finish - Medium; toasted, vanilla, sugar cookies

Only twice have I ever paid three figures for a bottle of whisky.  On both occasions, it was The Macallan 17 year Fine Oak.  I've been enjoying this whisky for some time.  To share it thrills me even more.  I've been hoping to do tasting notes on this for so long, thus due to all my drinking practice meditation, my notes above are the more wordy ones.  James and I agreed that between the three Macallan drams, this one was the favorite.

Now, this bottle (in the picture above) was purchased and opened almost exactly a year before our tasting.  And it has had a low level for quite some time.  (You see, it was the whisky I'd save for really good days, and once more prevalent those opportunities recently have become few and far between.)  That low level and the extended time period means that the whisky has gone through considerable oxidation.  So, was it better last year?  Probably.  But it's still great now, thirteen months after its opening.

*sigh*  Here comes the hypocrite.  Yes, it is expensive.  Yes, it is probably overpriced.  But would I buy it again if I had the money.  Yes.

In my defense, it's not as egregiously costly as the Sherry Oak 18:

I'm sighing again, because the price went up this year.  In 2010 and 2011 it was $110, and I nabbed it both times for $104.  Those days are gone.

As always, I'm trying to do my best to ignore price when coming up with a rating.  If I didn't ignore price then yesterday's Sherry 18-year would have taken a sound whuppin'.  But the rating is about the whisky itself.  And The Macallan 17 year Fine Oak sits where it does in the in the Rankings because it is a splendid thing, even after thirteen months of oxidation abuse.  It merges the best elements of the three separate wood finishes into a smooth flawless whole.

I recommend it to any whisky lover, with the disclaimer of its expense.  Try the 15 year Fine Oak first, another great dram.  If you like that one and money isn't an issue, then this is the amber restorative for you.

Pricing - Slightly overpriced at $120-$130
Rating - 94

Single Malt Report: The Macallan 18 year old Sherry Oak (w/guest reporter!)

Distillery: Macallan
Brand: Sherry Oak
Age: minimum 18 years
Maturation: Oloroso sherry casks
Region: Speyside
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

"I come here to bury the Macallan 18yr, not to praise it."  Okay, not really.

I may lose some readership today, but I will be truthful.  This is just my moderately-tested opinion.  And if opinions are like a$$holes (everybody's got one) then behold......my moderately-tested a$$hole?

Let's do the tasting notes, first.  As mentioned in yesterday's Macallan 12yr report, my Scottish Scotch pal James and I undertook a Macallan Taste Off on February 18th.

After we sampled the Macallan 12 year Sherry Oak, we went to the 18 year Sherry Oak.  Then went back to the 12 to compare.  Here are our notes:

James:
Color - Darker than the 12, red hint in the center, approaching a maple syrup look
Nose - Heavy Sherry
Palate - Deeper and larger than the 12, meaty, Sherry
Finish - Long burnt finish, Sherry

Me:
Color - a reddened dark brass, warm maple syrup
Nose - Sherry, cherry cordials, almond extract, toasted almonds, Sherry, Sherry
Palate - Thicker than the 12; mostly Sherry, meaty, creamy, maybe coffee beans?
Finish - Sherry, burnt, Sherry reduction

(Everything that follows below, James is innocent of.  But I will say that all of my Scotch buddies have a very similar opinion to mine when comparing the 12yr to the 18yr.)

Seeing a common theme?  Sherry.  Capital 'S' Sherry.  A good creamy Sherry...that drowns out everything else.

If you like Sherry, then why not buy a bottle of Sherry?  You can get a bottle of "good creamy Sherry" for $15.  Macallan 18yr costs $149.  In Spain, one can get an entire case of great Sherry for that price.

Let's take this a step further.

This is a pricing chart of official bottlings (with one exception), showing an average of five liquor sellers (both major and minor, the same stores I always use for reference in my "Pricing" listings).  I've included all of the official current 18 year old single malt releases in the US.  Where distilleries didn't have an 18-year release, I've used the closest in age.  Those younger are in green, those older are in pink.

Let's first address the bottlings near Macallan's price.  Dalmore also markets itself as a luxury product, but its distillery's production is only 40% that of Macallan's.  Like Macallan 18, the Dalmore 18 is largely bereft of the critical raves compared to many of the others on this list.  So Dalmore 18 sits in a similar luxury-sherry-oak boat as the Mac 18, but is in considerably shorter supply.

Meanwhile, the Springbank distillery uses all local barley, does their own hand malting, bottles everything by hand, and has an output 1/11th the size of Macallan's.  And that Springbank 18 year old?  It's only been released twice in the twenty years since the distillery reopened.

Now, the rest of the list.  Highland Park 18 is perhaps the highest rated officially bottled single malt in the world, has a complexity likely unmatched by anything else in its age range, and is produced by the same company owns Macallan.  And it's $50 cheaper than Mac 18, even $70 cheaper in some stores.  The Talisker 18 has a brain-melting complexity, has picked up raves everywhere, and is released in such limited numbers that it may have sold out completely in LA.  It's almost half the price of the Macallan 18.  Glenfiddich and Glenlivet, the only distilleries who can match Macallan's production levels, have malts at the same age for much less than half the Mac 18 price.

And that Rosebank 19-year may be from an independent bottler (Duncan Taylor), but that beloved distillery doesn't even exist anymore.  That, I believe, is a vision of scarcity.

Or maybe you prefer the luscious sherried style?

Glenfarclas, one of the last of the family-owned distilleries, produces about a third of the malt compared to Macallan, has comparatively limited releases in the States.  Their sherry casks produce a multi-faceted sophisticated malt that's highly regarded by professional noses (and unprofessional ones like mine!).  Their 25-year-old goes for the same price as Macallan's 18-year-old.

Then there's the grand Glendronach.  (Oh, how I hope to do a Glendronach Taste Off!  In May, perhaps?)  Let's put aside the fact that Glendronach has one-sixth of the malt production of Macallan.  Opinions as varied as all of the Malt Maniacs AND Jim Murray agree that Glendronach has the best sherry casked releases for at least the last three years.  Their SINGLE CASK releases are cheaper than Macallan 18.

Macallan has both large supply and high prices.  So, is it the Apple of the whisky world?  In my opinion, no.  Their work isn't revolutionary, nor are they the most innovative of distilleries.  They produce a good brand that is well liked.  As long as their fans don't venture too far off into other malts, they can keep edging their prices up as they market themselves as a luxury brand.

At the Raise the Macallan tastings, the Ambassador goes into depth about their work and investment in oak casks.  This in turn raises their production expense.  And they say that 65% of sherry casks imported to Scotland go to them, thus they have more first- and second-fill sherry malts than anyone else.

I don't begrudge them for their pricing.  They are a business and their customers keep paying for Mac 18.  I'm just rooting for those same buyers to branch out into Macallan's peers' releases.  I think they'll find high (or higher) quality products at lesser prices.

And in the end, price aside, I like Macallan 12 more than Macallan 18.  If you compare our notes on each, you'll see the greater complexity we found in the 12.  These notes vary very little from my own previous samplings.  If I didn't know the ages and I had to pick which one I'd pay more money for, I'd pick the 12.

The 18-year is by no means a bad malt.  It's good.  Very smooth and creamy.  Very Sherry.  And if an extremely sherried mellow malt is your style and you have $150 (plus tax) burning a hole in your pocket, then the Macallan 18 is all yours.

This a$$hole will take the Talisker 18 AND the Lagavulin 16 together for the same price and will be happier than a pig in whisky.

Pricing - Overpriced at $140-$160
Rating - 84

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at one of Macallan's Fine Oak series...

Single Malt Report: The Macallan 12 year old Sherry Oak (w/guest reporter!)

Distillery: Macallan
Brand: Sherry Oak
Age: minimum 12 years
Maturation: Oloroso sherry casks
Region: Speyside
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

There it is.  The gateway drug.

Sure the Johnny Walkers or Glenfiddich 12 can be starters too, but something seems to happen once the drinker takes to Mac 12.  Perhaps it's the first Scotch that he drank neat.  Perhaps it's the first Scotch that she actually enjoyed.

It's the one I've been recommending for years.  If you're new to single malts and have the money on hand (and spending $12 on a drink at the bar doesn't offend you), try a Macallan 12 neat.  Or perhaps with an ice cube or two if the flavor is too intense.  From there I usually recommend Redbreast 12 (yes, it's not Scotch, but I don't segregate), then Oban 14.  After that, we need to go drinking together.

But Mac 12 is the starter.  It has a creamy texture, a bright nose, and possibly the most accessible sherry-finish palate.  It's also very easy to find in bars, grocery stores, and small liquor shops.

In the US, it's simply known as The Macallan 12 year old.  In other markets it's called The Macallan 12 year old Sherry Oak due to the prevalence of their Fine Oak brand.

Upon return from the Long Beach Scottish Festival on February 18th, my Gaelic-Gallic (raised in the Highlands and Glasgow) buddy James and I took on the challenge of a three-part Macallan Taste Off.  I'd been looking forward to this for some time.  We've enjoyed some exceptional whiskies in the past and these bottles of Mac were burning a hole in The Whisky Closet.

We'd each had these three Macallans in the past, but never side by side by side.  We started with the 12y Sherry, using a 50mL mini I'd obtained from some happy hooch seller in town.

First, notes from James:

Color - Medium to dark gold, some orange, a brassy look
Nose - Light caramel scent, nutty in back, walnuts perhaps?; reminded me of an ice cream and whisky dessert "de mystère" I used to have with my grandfather Pappy P.
Palate - Dark chocolate and sherry
Finish - A good long fin full of cherries

Then, my notes.  But first, damn, I want a French ice cream and whisky dessert!

Color - Dark gold with orange hints
Nose - Caramel, chocolate rum cake, walnuts, almond extract
Palate - Thickly textured; Cocoa, nutty, fresh cherries, sherry, some alcohol heat; adding water sweetens it up
Finish - Decent length, sherry and cherries

High approvals from both of us.  It has the classic Macallan nose, the only nose I have pinpointed in a blind tasting (James was there, as was considerable alcohol that night at The Daily Pint).  A very lush sherried, nutty, caramel, chocolatey nose.  I'd even argue that the scent can be better than the palate at times.

This was the first time I'd noticed the cherries, an element I'd found in Glenfarclas's sherried whiskys.  Other folks have found honey, currants, brown sugar, pipe tobacco, and cinnamon.

As per all of these descriptors, Macallan 12 works best neatly as an evening sipper.  You can add water, ice, or club soda to it if you choose, but go ahead and try it neat once in a while.  For dessert, perhaps.  Or breakfast.

Pricing - Excellent at $40, but don't pay more than $50 because someone somewhere has it for less
Rating - 87

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at one of Mac 12's older siblings...

Post 200 - Our Ninth Anniversary

The evening of February 22, 2003, my brother's 21st birthday party, was a drink-filled celebratory night in Boston.  I knew only a handful of the people at the party, and I certainly had never met that hot tall slender brunette standing near the bar with the champagne in hand.  I had to talk to her.  That apparently was one of the rare periods in my life wherein I'd walk up to cute girls and introduce myself.

She was smart, funny, and from UPSTATE NEW YORK.  We talked a bit then cut a rug (to Iio's Rapture, I believe).  She made an early exit and I went in for a smooch.  DENIED!

I returned to LA a few days later and went back to life-as-usual.  Except I couldn't stop thinking about her.  It was crazy, she was a girl (of 20 years!) of whom I knew very little and lived three-thousand miles away.  But there she was, in my head.

Life is an infinite series of moments, almost all of which instantly vanish.  But there are those moments separate from all others, when you meet Her.  You're never in your comfort zone.  Something is always slightly off, like a dream but bright with lucidity.  And there She is.  And for days and years you look back at that moment, that girl you once met.  And it drives your inner artist mad with romance.  It's not just her lovely face, it's not just the connection you had.  It's the fact that the universe still allows the wall of somnambulant reality to fracture and let slip through a burst of the Devine.  You keep that with you, a little bit of magic, a little bit of cosmic momentum.  Then you continue with your ritual sleepwalk until it's over.

March 13, 2003, nine years ago, I could no longer let that moment just be.  She was a real person and I was willing to jeopardize the moment in order to talk to her again.  I emailed from work that morning, not sure if she remembered me.  Not sure if I'd be written off as some e-stalker.  Or wind up in the junk mail folder with the Nigerian bank account scams and the Replica watches.

She responded promptly, ending her email with "It was great to hear from you-- write back soon!"

So I did, immediately, like a good possessive obsessive.  And then she replied again.

Within seven days she was quoting e.e. Cummings and I was quoting John Lee Hooker.  By Day 9 we were discussing God.

Our first phone call was to happen on Day 11.  As I held gauze to a bleeding infected to-the-bone hiking leg wound, I called her from my car at the agreed upon time.  She told me to hang up the phone and go to the emergency room.  A reasonable suggestion.

We have completed nine full years together.  There have been a multitude of homes, states, coasts, and countries.  We have been around death and we have seen new lives.  She's the most fascinating person I have ever met and she's more "lovely and fun" than I'd told her she was on 3/13/03.  She's probably added years onto my life.

So, what did I give Kristen for our ninth anniversary?  Bronchitis.

I'll work on something better for #10.

Year One

Year Three

Year Five

Year Eight

Year Nine

The Macallan - A History

This week is Macallan Week on the Single Malt Report.  Each day (with one notable exception) I'll be submitting a blog post about The Macallan.  Today, I'll talk about the distillery and the company's history.  Then I'll be posting single malt reports on three of their products throughout the week.

In 1824, the Elchies Distillery obtained a license to legally distill whisky.  It's widely believed that farmers on the Elchies Estate had been divining the spirit for many decades, but with the license they gained the legal right from The Crown to make and sell (and pay taxes on) the product.

Alexander Reid is credited as the founder of the distillery and ran it until his death in 1847.  After that, ownership bounced around through his family members for some time.  James Stuart obtained the whisky license in 1868, then later purchased the distillery outright in 1886.

Immediately after his purchase he rebuilt the distillery in stone, which was probably wise since they were producing an instantly combustable product within a wooden building.

Source

In 1892, Roderick Kemp sells off his co-ownership of Talisker.  His attempts to buy Glenfiddich, Cardu, and Mortlach fall unsuccessful.  But his purchase of the Elchies distillery from Stuart is a success.  Kemp improves the quality of the spirit, rebuilds and expands the distillery, then names it Macallan-Glenlivet (after the Macallan church near the Elchies estate).

Source

Upon Kemp's death in 1909, ownership goes into the hands of a trust run by his descendants for the next 87 years.  In 1968, the trust agrees to two large business decisions.  Firstly, they issue an IPO for 37.5% of the company in order to fund a massive updating.  Secondly, they begin casking the spirit to prepare for official bottlings of single malt.  Around this time, the product is renamed, The Macallan.

In 1980, their sherry-seasoned Spanish Oak matured single malts go on sale worldwide.  By 1984, they are the third best selling single malts in Scotland, and fifth best in the world.

In 1996, Highland Distilleries and Suntory execute a hostile takeover of company ownership.  In 1999, Edrington Group Ltd (70%) and William Grant & Sons (30%)  -- as the 1887 Company -- buy Highland Distlleries, which owns 75% of Macallan while Suntory holds onto their 25% share.  In 2001, Macallan is taken off the public stock market.

Having largely set the standard for lush Speyside sherried whiskies, Macallan throws the market (and fans) for a loop by releasing a Fine Oak brand that combines whiskies matured in Spanish Oak sherry casks, American Oak sherry casks, and American Oak bourbon casks.  This move rankles gruntles, but ultimately creates a different brand of whiskies that allow the malt spirit itself to shine through.

Until 1994, Macallan had only used the Golden Promise barley strain (native to Scotland).  But because that strain produces a low yield of a grain that further yields low spirit quantities, Macallan switches to more productive strains until phasing out Golden Promise altogether.  Currently they still use a local barley called Minstrel in about 20-30% of their malt.

The distillery uses very small stills which in turn give the malt its creamy style, so when the business expands they build more stills rather than buying larger ones.  According to their figures, The Macallan receives 65% of all the Spanish Oak casks imported to Scotland, and they further invest large sums in oak and spirit scientific studies (expenditures of which they often boast).  The sherry casks they purchase are first seasoned with Mosto grape juice for three months, then hold sherry for two years, then are brought to Scotland for filling and storage.  About 70-80% of their casks are first-fill, then the remainder are second-fill.

Generating more than half of their business in Asia, Macallan has been doing battle with The Glenlivet for second place in worldwide single malt sales since 2004.  In 2010, thanks to a 14% gain, they placed second behind first place Glenfiddich.

They promote themselves as a luxury brand in their advertisements as well as through their partnerships with jewelry, watch, and crystal companies.  This has allowed them to sell their products at a significant premium despite the enormous level of supply worldwide.

---

On Wednesday, I'll take a look at their US standard expression, the 12 year old Sherry Oak.  (In the meantime, you can also take a peek at my report on their Cask Strength release.)

Sources