Wee Drams: The Macallan Harmony Collection "Intense Arabica Edition"

Ever wondered how Ethiopian Arabica beans would taste in a whisky? Well, here's your chance to find out (through us talking about it...we don't have the technology for you to taste through the screen, YET).

Pam and Chel try out this offering from The Macallan Harmony Edition, a whisky series all about the  "distinctive and innovative packaging that seeks to bring new life to organic by-products which have ended their usual course. ​It fuses innovative techniques with materials from the natural world at the end of their life to see them reborn with a renewed purpose."

So ch-ch-check it out!

This Episode is sponsored by Sherbrooke Liquor,  one of the World's Best Top Bottle Shops.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Oh, hey, how you doing. You got time for the wee dram.

Speaker 2 0:06

Welcome to dram, fine wee dram's fast tasting notes for when you just want to know what it tastes like. Today we taste the McCallan Harmony Collection, intense Arabica version. Hi Chelsea, hi Pam, do you know who? Yeah, we're in the same room today. I know, I'm sorry, I'm staring at your face, your eyeballs. It's great stuff. Do you want to know what we're drinking? I do Tell me so today. You know what? I don't think we've ever talked about McCallan before in our podcast. I don't think, really truly.

Speaker 1 0:34

Not, really no.

Speaker 2 0:35

I mean, they get enough attention. They don't really need our focus to be successful. Mccallan, I think you're going to be okay. They're doing alright, yeah, but today we're doing something very, very special. It's a limited series release. It's the. So the McCallan, the Harmony Collection, which I guess the Harmony Collection is. They're kind of drawing inspiration from their deep-rooted connection to the natural world. Very zen L'offre, yeah, and each release in the collection unveils distinctive packaging that incorporates organic byproducts and gives them new life. So they have a one of the. They have a chocolate kind of inspired release and we are trying the Intense Arabica release. Arabica, Arabica. Yes, we did Arabica. Yes, we did need to help pronouncing that because I was scared. Where's the emphasis on what's syllable? Well, we know now, Thanks to Google. Yeah, so this sensory experience is going to be yeah, this is, this is part of the. Yeah, the coffee, their coffee, I guess. Additions. Nice, Are you a coffee fan?

Speaker 1 1:48

Yes, very much. How about you? I am now that I've lived in Canada for 10 years, so I only liked tea before, but now I love coffee.

Speaker 2 1:56

I know, and I still haven't gotten into tea. So maybe when I move to Scotland one day I'll be into tea. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, but coffee's great, it's a fresh blend and you give me the all the espresso. What do you like? You like?

Speaker 1 2:06

Oh, no, I'll. No, I'm not ready for an espresso.

Speaker 2 2:08

You want your sugar.

Speaker 1 2:09

And yeah, I do, I like a double, double you like a double double. Oh, you're more Canadian than I am I only started ordering that because they didn't understand me at the drive-throughs. So at least when I said double, double, then you got a task in the car, because I was just looking at the most obvious thing. And now I'm addicted because of the sugar.

Speaker 2 2:28

Yeah, it's basically all sugar Tim Horns is, but I don't know if they use Arabica beans. But let me just tell you one more thing about so. This was also 44% ABV. It's inspired by the Ethiopian Arabica beans, so if you're based, you know it's the birthplace of coffee, as it was the first bean species to be cultivated. I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 2:55

I didn't know that. Wow, did you just have that information, or what?

Speaker 2 3:00

I was waiting to tell you that information. It's waiting for someone to do a coffee edition of whiskey, right. So we are going to give it a try and I'll tell you right now. I've had a whiff of it with my old truffle finder and it already has, like it already kind of smells like coffee. It smells incredible, yeah. So let's do the Tinf, tinf.

Speaker 1 3:24

Sounds like a fart, call our nose A vapor. I forgot. Now what's the case. Color, color, leave me through it. Aroma, or Call it Call it. It's been a while. I know. You know we're gone, that's okay.

Speaker 2 3:44

It isn't exactly something the easiest thing to remember. Color, let's see. Is it just me, or does it seem kind of like brownish, almost coffee?

Speaker 1 3:56

like. Maybe, no, I don't know. I think it's more like an amber. It's pretty dark.

Speaker 2 4:04

I think it's pretty dark, dark amber, dark amber, yeah, dark amber. Um, that's like I feel like a girl named Amber who's like really tapped into her evil side. Oh, she's living her dark Amber era.

Speaker 1 4:20

I feel like that's like a teen movie character, or Amber, yeah, only on Nickelodeon.

Speaker 2 4:24

No, okay, no, that's just. That's a nice smiling nose. It's like it's tiramisu, got tiramisu.

Speaker 1 4:37

It's tiramisu. I got chocolate.

Speaker 2 4:39

I definitely. I like I'm not just saying this because it's in the name, but I feel I taste, I can smell the coffee.

Speaker 1 4:44

Yeah, no, it does have. It does have coffee notes. I don't know the beans that well. It doesn't smell like a double double.

Speaker 2 4:51

But it doesn't smell like a double double. Thank God for that.

Speaker 1 4:54

Thank God.

Speaker 2 4:55

Okay, let's have a little. Let's see. Let's see. This tastes as good as it smells, shall we?

Speaker 1 5:07

Oh, coffee, it's coffee, it's coffee.

Speaker 2 5:10

What that's okay, well, we, I need another set. It's very. I mean it has a great, but yeah, it does taste like it does have a coffee flavor, for sure. It's very. It's not super complex though up in that way, no, it's not complex, but it like it has the.

Speaker 1 5:33

It has the. How do you explain that? Like the when you first drink a coffee and it's got that like a better betterness along with that.

Speaker 2 5:40

Yeah, yeah, it does have that, but it's definitely a little bit. The flavor is a bit thin, but the flavor that is there is definitely, I think, has definitely a coffee vibe.

Speaker 1 5:50

Yeah, it finishes coffee all over, yeah.

Speaker 2 5:52

Yeah, that's interesting, that's a really interesting experience. I love it. I actually really like that. It's very, yeah, I like I. I mean, I love new flavor experiences. So, thank you McKellen, 100%. And what about? So the finish?

Speaker 1 6:05

It's. It's quite a medium finish, I think, but it's all coffee.

Speaker 2 6:10

Yeah, it's definitely. It's got a little bit. It's a little bit. It's a little bit burny and the tepid or tongue, yeah yeah, I'm really not going to say that Again. Did you feel the burn? Anyways, yeah, it's, it definitely tastes a little young and a little thin, but at the same time I don't know what this but the flavor does enough that it doesn't really matter.

Speaker 1 6:35

Like, I think it's got a really nice flavor. I think the consistency of it yeah, okay it's it's. It's thinner than the, than some, but I enjoyed that. Yeah, what do you think? Hangover rating?

Speaker 2 6:51

Well, I think I would have a pretty big blackout with this one. I think so too, because I would drink, because it's very easy to drink.

Speaker 1 6:59

It's easy. It is super easy yeah.

Speaker 2 7:01

So I would not be remembering.

Speaker 1 7:03

the bottle will be empty, I think so, yeah, I think I would just have an 8 view. Hear that and turn this Couple of blackouts.

Speaker 2 7:10

That's a win. That's a win. I mean well done, mckellen. You've done it again. You're going to make it, mckellen.

Speaker 1 7:18

We were never worried.

Speaker 2 7:19

Yeah Is that it Is, that it so you want more weedrams.

Speaker 1 7:28

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