MacNair's 7 Years Old Exploration Rum

Billy Walker is one of the most decorated blenders in Scotch whisky — the man who revived BenRiach, GlenDronach, and GlenAllachie — and MacNair's Exploration is what happened when he turned fifty years of cask expertise on rum. Launched in 2021 by the GlenAllachie Distillers Company under its MacNair's Boutique House of Spirits label, the range began with a trio of Panamanian rums, chosen for the country's volcanic cane-growing soil. The 7 Year Old is molasses rum initially matured seven years in American oak in Panama's tropical climate, then shipped to the GlenAllachie distillery in Speyside, blended by Walker, and given a secondary maturation in a combination of virgin oak, red wine, and ex-bourbon casks, bottled at 46% ABV with natural color and no chill filtration. The Rum Barrel, comparing it head to head with its peated sibling, found the only difference between the two to be the finishing casks — and this one the more classically rum-shaped of the pair. Expect a nose of cooked banana, plantain, apricot, and caramel with the red-wine cask's dried berry and the virgin oak's vanilla, opening into a rounded, spiced palate of tropical fruit, burnt sugar, toffee, and orange zest with more oak structure than most Panamanian rums carry, finishing warm and moderately long. Honest note: a Scotch blender's take on a light Spanish-style base — polished rather than funky. For the GlenAllachie drinker curious about rum, a Rum Old Fashioned, or neat. Panama, finished in Speyside.

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