July 2023 - Macallan, Lindores and a Fool

Welcome to another month at Mr Dram Man and some more interesting samples for us all to enjoy! For July I am going to kickstart with a competition - trying to get you guys all involved a bit more and have a laugh with some of these samples.

The winner will get an extra pack of samples with next months delivery. All you guys have to do is type in the comments the most pretentious or outlandish, but also accurate tasting note from one of this months samples - the most accurate and entertaining one wins. As an example, I once heard someone describe The Macallan - A Night on Earth in Scotland with "the palate is like eating freshly baked shortbread on a sunny sunset evening in the hills of the Amalfi coast surrounded by orange trees"...

So it us all with your best!

Casks of Lindores - Bourbon Cask

To start with I am going for the Cask of Lindores Bourbon cask - light in colour, citrusy and crisp on the nose with floral notes - if I am honest the same as most young bourbon cask whiskies. On drinking I got an oily mouthfeel to this, quite peppery and you definitely get hit by the 49% abv here. It's enjoyable, drinkable but nothing special in my opinion. The finish was long, buttery vanilla notes and a little drying/chewy. This doesn't score to highly for me really, 62/100 - I think the disappointing thing for me is I had the sherry cask release a few months back which was brilliant and this didn't live up to the expectation I was hoping Lindores would uphold (for comparison I would give the sherry cask a score of 83/100).

North Star Spirits - The Fool

Next I will talk about the North Star Spirits - The Fool blended Scotch whisky. There are a lot of rumours about this blend with the casks coming from the Edrington estate and whether they are refills of Macallan/Glenlivet butts - who cares, they're a refill - maybe people are "The Fool" for believing too much into that. A blend of North British grain whisky and Malt from an undisclosed distillery of 6years+. The whole thing is a vanilla spiced journey from nose to finish - surprisingly comfortable on the mouth for 57% abv and you get very gentle warm notes from the refill oloroso casks - I am trying this for the first time as I am writing this and I am mildly impressed with this - at the price point of £29 - it definitely competes with anything you would buy in a supermarket, its different, its limited, and showcases what North Star Spirits can do with with Indie Bottlings. 79/100.

The Macallan - Harmony - Intense Arabica

Finally we have a confirmed Macallan Dram - the 2nd installment of their non-travel exclusive Harmony collection. If you joined us a few months ago we actually tried the first installment - this was back when I didn't publish ratings, however in my notes for all these I did put down a 75-80 rating for the rich cacao. So lets see how this one fairs in comparison. So strangely the on the nose the Cacao smelt chocolatey - fitting I know - however I don't think this one smells Arabica-like... I am getting traditional sherry notes with praline and vanilla. Same on the mouth but I am getting very very very subtle notes of coffee - I am getting a boozy Tiramisu taste to it, I love a good Tiramisu, so no complaints there - it is interesting concept and it works - the claim cappuccino on the box - I had one at lunch time today and there is no comparison. The finish is quite creamy, makes me want more, I now also want Tiramisu. This is good - I don't think it warrants the price - that is just Macallan's brand and expert marketing team doing a grand job as per usual - but its definitely enjoyable and in my opinion a level up from the Cacao - 82/100.

Thanks again for reading through these notes with me - I hope you enjoy - post your ratings below and don't forget that pretentious or outlandish comment for a chance to an additional box of samples next month.