Macaloney’s Whisky Range Review
For today’s range review of whisky, we’re going to be looking at Macaloney’s Distillery. Now, I know what you’re thinking ‘with a name like that, it just has to be a Scottish distillery, perhaps nestled somewhere in the Highlands?’ Well, actually, no, it’s not a Scottish distillery at all, or even a British one for that matter. Macaloney’s Distillery is in fact Canadian, though was founded by a Scotsman.
Located in British Columbia, in Victoria, it was founded by a Scotsman by the name of Graeme Macaloney, who relocated to Western Canada with a dream of opening his own distillery and introducing the country to the dram he fell in love with back home in Scotland.
Graeme teamed up with Scotland’s most prestigious whisky maturation expert, the late Dr Jim Swan, as well as Master Distiller Mike Nicolson. After much investment, construction on the distillery began. Before long, the Macaloney’s Whisky Distillery was born in 2016.
Despite being a young distillery, since being in operation they have produced some truly exceptional drams. For the Great Drams range review of Macaloney’s, I’m going to look at three of their most popular.
Despite being thousands of miles away from Speyside, Cath-Nah-Aven is Macaloney’s tribute to the fantastic sherried Speyside whiskies that we’re so accustomed to here in the UK.
This single malt has picked up multiple awards and is one of their most popular expressions to date. Non-chill filtered, 46% ABV, and with a natural luscious chestnut colour, the whisky has been matured in a combination of PX and Oloroso sherry casks, married alongside American oak cask whiskies. The result is spectacular.
On the nose you pick up deep fruity sherry notes right from the offset. There’s red grape, sultanas, raisins, figs, and date aromas. These are enhanced by complex oak woody scents that provide spicy, honey undertones.
On the plate, you can see why this is their homage to a Speyside expression. It provides plums, raisins, figs, honey, and sweet oak from the get-go. These are married together beautifully by flavours of cinder toffee, baking spices, and buttery shortbread.
The finish provides huge amounts of body with a thick and creamy mouthfeel. There are definite dessert wine vibes here, with more than a suggestion of oak.
Kildara is an award-winning dram that has proved to be so popular that the distillery was forced to limited it to one bottle per customer.
Made in conjunction with a selection of different casks, including American oak ex-Bourbon, Oloroso and PX sherry casks, and Kentucky Bourbon casks, there is a lot going on with this whisky, and it’s all absolutely wonderful.
From their Triple-Distilled Single Pot Still Range, from the finest malted and unmalted barley, it’s as smooth as velvet and doesn’t hold back on the fruity notes. It’s almost like a fine blended Irish whiskey, and not just because of the triple distillation process either.
Non-chill filtered and bottled at 46% ABV, the combination of casks have allowed the whisky to take on an incredibly deep and dark mahogany brown colour. I love how this looks in the bottle!
On the nose you should pick up plenty of spiced fruitcake notes, along with caramel and vanilla custard, cinnamon, demerara sugar, fine leather, raspberry jam, and digestive biscuits. Seriously, you need to smell this, it’s incredible!
The palate also doesn’t disappoint. There are juicy raisins, milk chocolate and caramel hazelnuts, chocolate orange, honey, golden syrup sponge, vanilla custard, and caramelised pineapple and mango. These give way to punchy notes of heather honey, lavender, and a hint of sea breeze.
The finish is fairly lengthy for something so smooth. There are more sherry notes, figs drizzled in honey with creamy goat cheese, and a smoky undertone reminiscent of the embers of a campfire burning on the beach.
And finally, no prizes for guessing what sort of notes you’re going to get from this dram.
The Peat Project was developed as part of their ‘Peated’ Island Single Malt Series, and it too is a best-seller that they’re forced to ration due to such high demand.
For those who appreciate a smoky, peaty dram, this is going to be right up your street. Don’t assume it’ll be just like the ones you get from Islay however, as this is made using Washington peat before being bottled directly from a red wine barrique. This helps give the dram its shimmering crimson-amber hue.
On the nose that unmistakable peat smoke aroma hits you right away. This is combined with leather, dessert wine, red grapes, dates, prunes, and toasted walnut aromas. There’s also a creamy chocolate malt scent waiting to be picked up.
On the palate you don’t just get hit by the peat, it gives you a left hook right to the face! Big time peat influences here, but they’re not overwhelming. The earthy, smoky notes are complimented by dark treacle tart, butterscotch ice cream, roasted barley, mixed berries, Christmas pudding, salted caramel, and powdered ginger.
The finish is lengthy with heaps of body. There’s more charcoal-like smoke, chocolate biscuits, lemon drizzle cake, and rich honey. Wow!
If you’d like to learn more about your favourite whiskies, or simply treat yourself to a dram or two in the process, head on over to GreatDrams.com and take a look at what we have to offer.
With an impressive selection of limited-edition, rare, and award-winning whisky, as well as heaps of whisky info on our blog, it’s the perfect spot for any whisky lovers out there.
Greg
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