Macallan Edition No. 3 Review

The very first whisky I reviewed here on the Mule earlier this year was Macallan Edition No. 2. Recently Macallan released the latest in their Edition series, Edition No. 3. I enjoyed the first two bottles in Macallan’s Edition series, so I happily picked up a bottle of No. 3 a few weeks ago.

One of the things Macallan is doing with the Edition series is bringing in successful people from outside of the whisky making industry who might be able to use their expertise from a different field to help make a good whisky. In the case of Edition No. 2, it was some people who run one of the best restaurants in the world. For Edition No. 3, Macallan’s Master Whisky Maker Bob Dalgarno collaborated with Master Perfumer Roja Dove.

Although you might wonder what a master perfumer would know about making whisky, it does make sense on a certain level, especially if you are looking to make a whisky with a great nose. The fragrance industry blends a variety of ingredients together to create a product that smells good, which isn’t really all that dissimilar from what a whisky maker does (sort of). Master perfumers are said to have extraordinary abilities for detecting, understanding, and blending scents, so I could see how there could be some knowledge that Macallan might gain from a master perfumer, particularly in selecting a great nosing dram.

Like the previous two Edition bottlings, Edition No. 3 combines whiskies aged in both American and European oak, with a large amount of ex-sherry casks in play.

So can a fragrance maker help make a great whisky? Let’s find out.

Macallan Edition No. 3 Review

Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Speyside
ABV: 48.3%
Natural Color

Nose

Toffee. Chocolate. Berries. Cinnamon. Christmas cookies. Baking spices. Cherry pie topped with Cool Whip. Tropical fruits, pineapple in particular. Sweet oak. Ginger root. Subtle mustiness in the form of old books and leather. Yep, this is a very nice nose.

Palate

Toffee. Mixed berries. Crème brûlée. White cake with vanilla icing. Sweet cream. Ginger syrup. Cacao. Cinnamon candy. Baked pineapple. Sultanas. Red grapes. Cherry pie. Leather. Nice and tasty, but the mouthfeel is disappointingly thin.

Finish

Vanilla. Sweet cream. Airy milk chocolate (like an Aero bar). Tart cherries. Ginger. Baking spices. A touch of leather and old books. Medium in length.

Overall

It seems that Macallan accomplished what they set out to do with Edition No. 3 in making a whisky with a successful and delightful nose. The nose is quite lovely indeed. Unfortunately the palate and finish, while good, don’t quite live up to the nose. The body is too thin, which is a little surprising considering the ABV and the strong sherry cask influence (I often find that sherry influence results in a bigger, fuller body, but not in this case).

As a whole, I like this whisky, but it doesn’t do anything that makes me yearn to keep coming back to it. It’s a good single malt. Plenty of (modern) Macallan character, and bottled at a nice ABV. Much like the first two Macallan Editions, this is a step up from the regular Macallan 12 year old. But it seems to me that there is too much emphasis on the nose, and not enough on the palate and finish.

SCORE: 85/100
Final Thoughts

Like I said, this is good, solid whisky, and therefore it gets a score right in the middle of my “good” range. The only noticeable flaw is that the mouthfeel is a little too thin. And while the nose is really quite excellent, it’s not enough to elevate this to being great as a whole. Still, it’s nice. If you like Macallan, then I don’t think you’d regret buying a bottle.

Comparing it to the other Editions, this has a better nose than Edition 2, but a worse palate. I like Edition 2 better. If I were to rank them, I’d go 2>3>1. But they are all pretty good and similar in profile—if you like one of them, you’ll probably like all of them.

Buy again? Maybe. The price of Edition No. 3 is about $10-15 less than Edition No. 2 around here, which is nice and makes it a better value, but I’d rather pay a bit more for the higher quality of Edition No. 2 (which I can still get). Don’t get me wrong, this is a good whisky and I’m glad I bought a bottle, but I’ve only bought one bottle of Edition No. 2 (so far) even though I really enjoyed that single malt quite a bit. So I’m in no hurry to buy this again, especially when there are quite a few other whiskies in the same price range (I paid $85) that I want to try. I will say that I do plan to buy a bottle of Edition No. 4 whenever it comes out, presumably sometime in 2018.

Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.

For more reviews, check out the Whisky Review Archive.

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