Macduff is a key character in Macbeth (as a matter of fact, he kills the regicidal tyrant!).
In the drama, he represents the weight of morality: for morality, and for Scotland, he goes as far as to sacrifice his family, massacred by Macbeth’s men, to gather an army in England, and hand the throne to the legitimate heir, King Duncan. Curiously, he enters the scene in the second act, and – reproaching Macbeth for his late awakening – discusses the effects of alcohol on man, in a dialogue full of double-entendre. Who knows if Macbeth had whisky in mind when he says that drinking “provokes the desire, but it takes / away the performance”… Anyway, today we taste a Macduff distilled in 1980, when the distillery was in Italian hands (Martini Rossi), and bottled last year by Wilson & Morgan (which, despite the name, is a very Italian company) in the prestigious Collector’s Edition series, that already gave us many gems in the past. The sherry barrel is number 6886, and the alcohol content is 50.2%.
N: well, what can we say … it’s really exuberant from the very beginning: there is really every type of fruit. Certainly, tropical fruit (banana! We are reminded of the sweetness you can find in banana ice creams… and then, a suggestion of Pina Colada incites the tropical riot in progress). Also, surely, red fruits (blackberries and raspberries) with beautiful ripe citrus fruits (orange, of course). It all comes to a very rich fruit salad. Then, next to the fruity side, we find a creamy and buttery tourbillon (hazelnut cream, white chocolate, marzipan…). There is also a note of shoe polish and a lighter note of wood (kindly betraying the venerable age of the distillate) along with some timid traces of aromatic herbs. However, if you wanted to fully describe the fruity side, you could stay on this whisky for days and days…
P: WARNING! A fruit avalanche is already overwhelming you! If we could summarize everything in a single suggestion, the whisky tastes like a tropical fruit juice… it’s impressive! Banana, maracuja, coconut … then red apple, more strawberries and raspberries, more orange juice … Excellent. On the sidelines, notes of caramel and toffee, dried fruit (hazelnut) and sweet licorice. Intense, really intense, very enjoyable. Totally drinkable.
F: very buttery, still tropicalia, still toffee, more wood and buttery dried fruit (walnut). Rather long and persistent.
Did we mention that the tropical fruit is awesome? 91/100 is our opinion for a round, fruity whisky. If it wasn’t for some delicious woody notes on the nose, it never betrays its age, that is already – relatively – venerable. A whiskey that we truly recommend; sold out according to the official website (where you can also find the tasting notes), it is still around around 200 euros. Congratulations on the selection.
Recommended soundtrack: we really couldn’t help fishing for a song in the tropics, with a great piece of Caetano Veloso, Podres Poderes
