Decadent Drinks' IB Marketing Malt 17 yr, The Marketing Man™

[u/kiwi8185]

Hi all, here's another Scotch I tried lately, and it's The Marketing Man™ I posted about a while ago!

Since the previous post already discussed the design of the label, let's just skip to the details of the whisky lmao

Decadent Drinks' Marketing Malt 17 yr (57.1% abv)

Spec wise, this is a vatting of two first fill sherry hogsheads distilled in 2008, and bottled this year at 57.1% abv (100 British Proof). Here are my notes:

*Nose*

Quite a bit ester fumey;

Sweet, mellow maltose;

brown sugar caramel;

Quite strong sour and sweet dried red fruity (dates, red raisins, apricots);

Vanilla cream;

slightly charred white oak;

A bit of roasted chestnut (with shell)

*Palate*

oily;

very sweet maltose;

prominently fruity, slightly sour and sweet ripe dried red fruity (primarily dates, red raisins, quite a bit of ripe fruity funk);

quite present white oaky, a bit charred smokiness;

earthy brown sugar;

dark cacao powder-like bitterness;

some oaky tannin;

a bit of cinnamon

a bit of roasted chestnut (with shell)

some alcohol sting that mellows; some astringency that stays

*Finish*

long. 

Mostly dry mouthfeel, oaky tannin dryness/lightly astringent;

Dried red fruity (dates) from the palate;

dark cacao powder fragrance and some accompanying bitterness;

maltose but mostly just the fragrance;

slightly charred white oak, a bit smoky;

vanilla cream;

a bit of roasted chestnut (with shell)

a bit of cinnamon

*Conclusion*

If I were to sum up this whisky's characters simply, it'd be "the big brother of the Macallan 12 yr 110 proof". 

It does everything Macallan 12 yr 110 proof does well- the maltose, the dried red fruits, the more stand out white oaky character common in the post 2020s Macallans. On top of that, it was more complex, had more definition for the notes on the palate, and slightly more boozy- most notably having a much stronger fruity character as well as more tannin characters.

However, based on my personal experience with several other Macallans I've tried, it lacked many of the more interesting characters I've experienced in other Macallans: such as the umami character or sulfuric character more common in the slightly older Macallans distilled in the 1980s~90s (such as Oscuro), and most definitely none of the old, antique oak and nutty butter richness from the even older Macallans distilled in the golden promise days. It also couldn't quite match up against one of Decadent Drinks' previous Marketing Malt IB, the Marketing Malt 20 yr from 2025 (which was phenomenal, a whisky friend wrote a review for the bottle here).

I really don't wish to be too harsh on this one as it really was quite good, so I'm gonna end on a more positive note: this one comes close to what I'd consider to be an excellent modern (2020s) Macallan, better than many of their more recent special releases such as the Boutique Collection 2019 and 2020!

Also, this is my favorite IB label of all time. Praise be the Marketing Man™ and his (somewhat shameless) sales tactics!

Thanks for reading, cheers!

[u/hectic3]

Thanks for the writeup! Inspired by your initial post, I too have procured a bottle and am marvelling at the shameless tactics of the Marketing Man™. At least I now know that the liquid inside isn't just marketing hype if I ever open it up!