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McClelland's Speyside

Alright! Onto glass number 2 for this Sunday evening. We had a rooftop patio night booked, right on Lake Ontario, but sadly we have a bone chilling wind raging through southern Ontario tonight, and so we've had to resolve on meeting at Scott's house he's renovating in Hamilton. We've been interested in reviewing the McClelland's since we started taking our hobby seriously almost a year ago now. Our hope is that these would be great value buys and good introductory scotches. These are all single malts. There's a general consensus as to where the Islay, Highland, and Lowland bottles come from, but the Speyside is still up in the air. We'll share our best guesses with you guys.


McClelland's Speyside, 40% ABV. $46 CAD.


We sniff around.


Simon: Smells good eh.


Trevor: Smells a little bit alcoholly.


Scott: I get some caramel.


Simon: This is richer. It has some sherried notes to it. Some berries.


Trevor: Citrusy.


Kyle: There's a few fruits.


Simon: I get oak too.


Scott: Yea I can get some wood.


Simon: I was expecting more of the apple-y Glenfiddich/Glenlivet but this smells a lot more on the way to a Glendronach or a sherried Macallan.


Trevor: I kind of get the apples


Scott: If there are apples they're hiding from me...


We cheers.


Simon: There's a nice spice to it. I get a bit of a burnt caramel.


Trevor: Yea like a charred.


Simon: The crême brulé!


Scott: Toasted strawberry.


Trevor: Campfire marshmellows.


Simon: It's got a specific spice to it.


Kyle: Do you guys get a sour note?


Scott: Yea there's a mild bitterness. It's not as thin as I was expecting.


Simon: I'm impressed with this. It's got some richness to it.


Scott: Yea this is something you can have anytime and not feel guilty about it. Not going to break the bank. It is boring. It's not doing anything exciting, but it is beating our expectation for a $40 scotch.


Simon: I don't think it's boring, there's a little oak, there's a little liquorish.


Kyle: Yea I definitely get the red liquorish.


Simon: I was thinking more black.


Scott: No I definitely get the red now that you say it.


Ratings: Kyle starts us off. He's impressed, he was expecting a potential drain pour here. It's not amazing but not terrible, right in the middle of the road. He would definitely recommend this to a newby. He gives this a 74. Simon had the same number in mind 74. Flavors are full, decent variety of flavors, nicely sherried. 69 for Scott. He thinks its great for what it is. It's a 69 he would definitely have on his shelf. It's an easy drink that you can share with people without thinking twice. Trevor's going 76. Suprisingly good for him, lots of good little things going on. Averages out to 73.3.


Overall: Yea this is a great value buy. It's a fine sherried dram that won't break the bank and you can put it out for company without thinking twice about it. It's definitely on the sherried side of Speyside. Our best guess is a sherried Macallan, a younger version of the 12 sherry oak, but it could be an Aberlour, it could be even be a sherried Highland marketed as a Speyside (not sure if that's legal) so like a young watered down Glendronach, or a sherried Glen Garrioch. It doesn't remind any of us of the classic Speysides like Glenfiddich 12 or Glenlivet 12 at all. The value rating on this is 83, which puts it at number 12 on our value scale.


Cheers!

The S&P Crew.

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