The Macallan 1851 "Inspiration"

Jim Murray called this whisky "flat and uninspirational." Macallan has made a cottage industry out of producing replica whiskies -- bottles that are of more recent production but that supposedly replicate the flavor of the Macallan produced at a given time. A few years ago they came out with a set to replicate the Macallan from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with appropriate artwork to evoke the images of the time (trains, open-top cars, but no tanks or spitfires for the 1940s). Then they came up with the 1851 Inspiration for the duty free market. It comes in a squat bottle similar to the 19th century type (think Aberlour A'bunadh) with a wax seal on the top. I bought my bottle in the Seoul duty free about a year ago and had thought when I read more about it that I wouldn't like it. I was worried it would be a fiery or overly sherried malt.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I opened up this bottle finally and poured out a light golden liquid. It had a lighter, sugar (but not caramel) smell and betrayed very little sherry influence. According to the Grain Mash, it was partly aged in ex-bourbon American oak casks, which raises a few eye-brows I suppose at the genuineness of the flavor profile, but I am more likely to be charitable given that Macallan is trying to recreate a flavor, not the method per se. Anyway, the nose continues with sweet flowers, bubble gum and Big Red gum (the spicy cinnamon kind). This is a very unexpected flavor and aroma from Macallan, at least for me. There is a lot of high sweetness and it is sharp and brisk on the tongue, but not in a harsh or rough way. With water it settles down. It really reminds me of a young Bowmore at this point, though with a little less plastic. In fact, if you had given this to me blind, I would never have guessed Macallan and would have sworn this was closer to the Bowmore Legend. Quite an enjoyable whisky and certainly not, in my view, flat and uninspirational.