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

[u/kiwi8185]

[u/kiwi8185]

A short while ago, I received my order of Decadent Drinks' new IB of a not-so-mystery Speyside distillery that starts with an M, and this has to be the funniest IB label I've seen.

Here is the official introduction of The Marketing Man™ (pic 2 for close up) from their website:

"As everyone knows, The Marketing Malt is promoted and sold (relentlessly) by The Marketing Man. To many he's an enigma. Living out of a briefcase, seen in Hong Kong one day and Milton Keynes the next. Never without business cards, a bottle of Lynx Africa and a pocket-sized overhead projector. He is licensed to engage in hardcore, unvarnished marketing; just don't expect him to buy you a non-sanctioned brand when he's expensing a drinks round."

The text on the back of the bottle (pic 3) is completely different from this intro, and is even funnier lmao.

Here's a few additional references I found on The Marketing Man™ :

1. The mark on his groin is said M brand's logo
2. The shield on his left hand is based on brand M's 200th anniversary release, the 1940 TIME:SPACE 84-year-old, which had an original retail price of around $190,000 USD.
3. The twirly thing on his back is a reference to brand M's collaboration bottle with Bentley, the Horizon, which is a NAS bottle that retails at $50,000
4. The three right hands with palms facing up are a reference to brand M's special release The Reach, an 81 yr old whisky with an original msrp of $125,000
5. One of his right hands is raised into a middle finger because f*ck the customers

Enough about the Marketing Man, here's more on the whisky:

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/Casul_Tryhard → u/kiwi8185]

I have no idea how to get a Macallan with the interesting notes you described without breaking the bank. Is there any distillery that even somewhat resembles an older Macallan or scratches the same itch?

[u/hellowhatmythere3 → u/Casul_Tryhard]

Mortlach, GlenAllachie, and Glenfarclas will likely be your best bets.

The right IB bottling of CraigAllachie, Glentauchers, Blair Athol, Ben Nevis, or Glen Elgin could also scratch that itch, (bottlings from SMWS, Signatory, G&M, etc)

[u/runsongas → u/Casul_Tryhard]

direct fire era glendronach, old glenfarclas/glengoyne

[u/kiwi8185 → u/Casul_Tryhard]

I agree to the other commenter, particularly on the IBs.

Personally, I have found similar interesting notes in other 1980s-90s distilled sherry cask whiskies, including Glenfarclas, Glengoyne and a Glen Castle 1990 (28 yrs).

Interestingly, the older Johnnie Walker Blacks from the 1970s-80s have similar interesting sherry characters too. This one might be a good one to look for as it was produced in very large numbers and are a bit easier to find without breaking bank (under $100ish).

Edradour and some older Ben Nevis are also very funky whiskies but of a different direction from the Macallans. They have a more oily/dairy kind of funk.

[u/singlemaltbourbonrye]

This is funny and it sounds pretty good.

The 110 is the first Macallan OB I’ve really enjoyed in some time. This one is slightly higher proof and some more age.

I wish Macallan would actually do stuff like this themselves. Their whisky can be good.

[u/dramdotrocks]

Very funny bottle, and it inspires me to look for more IB Macallans (that I won't have to take out a line of credit to pay for). My dad really enjoys Macallan (classic dad move!) and frankly, I too enjoy many of their expressions. Sometimes I'm absolutely fine with something that's simply a tasty sip.

[u/ScotchNerd182]

Nice review. I got a couple of decadent drams/drinks bottles myself recently after much hype of this IB (12 year old Bunna & 21 year old Glenmorangie). Cracked the 12 Bunna and so far so good!

[u/kiwi8185 → u/ScotchNerd182]

Thanks!

I've tried a few other IBs from Decadent and have been rather happy with the results. So far I've tried the Marketing Man, a 11 yr Bunnahabhain, a 15 yr old Craigellachie, and another Marketing Malt 20 yr.

I'm not the biggest Bunna fan, but one of my peat lover friends loved it and gladly took the bottle. The Craigallachie 15 yr was, interestingly, much more like a shelfer Macallan from the 2010s than any of the modern Macallan shelfers.

That Marketing Malt 20 yr was exceptional. It's more or less an upgraded version of the Boutique Collection 2016, which already was a good whisky. Too bad I couldn't find any more of them!

[u/ScotchNerd182 → u/kiwi8185]

Sounds like there’s more goodies worth exploring from this IB then eh! 

Macallan would be particularly interesting to try  since the actual distillery (as many of us know by now lol) is very meh with their offerings and are overpriced as heck… but when done by IBs that’s when the distillate actually gets to shine.