Back with another review and after a few weeks of battling pretty awful allergies this is a godsend. Today I’ll be looking at Macallan’s Fine Oak range. The Fine Oak range was created a few years ago, apparently, to take the stress of the sherry cask used for maturing the standard range. But now it seems Macallan will soon do away with the Fine Oak range and even the standard range for the new NAS 1824 range. I personally believe it’s one of the dumbest moves they could of made but only time will tell. Since it’s inception the Fine Oak range has not been well received. When compared to their highly respected and regarded sherry matured 12 and 18 the FIne Oak range seems to lacking that Macallan-esque quality. I personally love the 12 but seeing this at my local shop and never trying the FO for myself I decided to take a gamble and see how it panned out. According to Macallan this whisky is matured in three casks; european oak seasoned with sherry, american oak seasoned with sherry and another with bourbon.
Type: SIngle Malt Region: Speyside
ABV: 40% Color: Amber -1 Body: med-
Nose: Smells rather young and spirity. Getting some notes of honey, bananas and pineapple. There are some hints of the sherry but it is very faint. I also get a buttery mashed potatoes aroma that you find in new make bourbon. Touches of lemon here and there. With water the whole things gets a little sweeter.
Palate: That buttery note upfront accompanied by malty sweetness. Oranges and honey are also in there. Not really picking up on those typical sherry notes and it all gets very spirity mid palate. Some lemon, fruit pith and orange juice appear towards the back
Finish: Rather quick and slightly bitter with orange rind and coffee notes.
Overall: I want this whisky, in it’s sleek packaging and Macallan name, to show me more character more complexity but it is incapable. It’s a shame really because the standard 12 Mac is miles ahead of this one. As it goes this is much too green, also the seasoning of the casks, I assume, was either too brief or of substandard contents because there isn’t much influence coming through.
The Whisky Journal 