The Macallan (10 yo) Fine Oak [REVIEW]

The Macallan 10 Fine Oak (ABV: 40%)

• Nose [18/25]: Floral, Fragrant, Heavly Oaked white wine, green wood, like sherry notes and faint vanilla. The heavy oak here hurts it for me, and there is something like dept. store perfume counters sitting somewhere in the background that comes out after I have been sitting with it for a while that I was a little bothered by.  I added a little water, which toned down the wood and floral notes, allowing some honey / beeswax to come through - which I did enjoy.
• Taste [19/25]: Light body, the initial feel is sharp and dry, more of that young oak coming through. There is vanilla and creamy toffee in there, but it is nearly obliterated by the oaky notes.  It isn't that it tastes terrible, it just doesn't have much that makes it stand out as much more than a white wine on the palate to me.  Water opened up the fruits and caramels in this.
• Finish [18/25]: Warm and short, a little pepper, floral perfume, and more of that young green wood. Something sharp and bitter here too that comes in long after the majority of the other notes have faded, I have no idea what to relate it to but I tried to not let it influence the majority of the experience too much.
• Balance [17/25]: The strong oak / wood on every aspect here was a little too much, this is the only Macallan I have tried so far, is it what I should expect?  I drank nearly 1/3 of the bottle to make sure I was giving a fair review.  Trying many different things (water, resting, coffee/chocolate before, etc) to see the different aspects of it.
• Summary :I hope I had a tainted bottle here, as most of the reviews I had read about this one seemed so promising. I can see the promise of what this dram could be. I talk like I hated it, but it wasn't bad, just not great. I will come back to it someday, with a new bottle, in hopes of having it be redeemed. I will note that a few drops of water worked a little magic and did make it more enjoyable. Water giving maybe a +5 overall to the score. +2 on the nose, +1 everywhere else.
• Score : [72 / 100], with water [77 / 100]