The third expression in the 1824 series is the Sienna. The Sienna has more European oak and more first fill American oak than the Amber and the Gold. We’re not at 100% first fill sherry, but we’re getting there. The casks are sherry seasoned with Oloroso Sherry. It’s worth noting that these casks were never actually used for actual sherry, rather these are casks that were seasoned with sherry. If this interests you further, I recommend Billy Abbott’s (@cowfish) excellent blog post series on sherry casks (so far two of the three were published) and here is the link to the first post.
Sherry Casks
Photo Credit: commons.wikimedia.org
Macallan claims to import most of the sherry casks coming into Scotland, which together with the expansion we discussed yesterday, promises a wide availability of these four expressions.
Continuing what seems to be a theme for me, I liked this expression better than the top expression of the range, both of whom I had twice at the Whisky Show, and took notes on both occasions. So with no further ado, let’s take a look at the tasting notes for this whisky:
Macallan Sienna (43% ABV, NAS, NCF, NC)
Appearance: Amber, darker shade than the Macallan Amber.
Nose: Oranges, dried fruit, a bouquet of flowers, notes of vanilla and ginger. Green apples and sugared apples.
Palate: Very consistent with the nose with oranges, spice and dried dates. This expression has an oily feel and is rather dry.
Linger: Medium with notes of sweeter citrus, honey, cinnamon and gentle clove.
Conclusion
This is the best expression of the rather pale range. The oranges are lovely and I liked the consistency between the nose and the palate.
Last night I had dram of Balvenie, and it dawned on me that I might like this expression because it’s a lot like the basic flavor profile of Balvenie!
What a sad thing to say about a once great distillery…