Two different McDowell's No.1's "Luxury" and "Platinum"...

Continuing with the world's top three selling whisky brands... Today is day 2 and the brand is McDowell's No.1. Owned by United Spirits/Diageo McDowell's No.1 sold 25.5 million cases in 2016 securing the title of second best selling whisky in the world.* I do have two different botllings on my desk though... I will take a wild guess and assume that "Platinum" has a higher rank than "Luxury" in the line-up just because it comes in a glass bottle not in a plastic one like "Luxury". So let's start with "Luxury"...

McDowell's No.1 Luxury (42.8%):

Color: Yellow gold with again thin but slow moving legs.

Nose: Sweet with touch of smoke... That's surprising, isn't it? But soon enough alcohol rises up in the glass and kinda kills all our hopes about the nose. Now the smoke is purely medicinal but in a good way: First aid closet, hydrogen peroxide and gauze pads.

Palate: Industrial alcohol with hints of instant coffee, artificial sweetener and very faint smoke.

Finish: Short with alcohol burn on the lips.

Overall: I think it is tad better than Imperial Blue... Just because it gave me a little more to think and talk about. I cannot imagine drinking this in bigger amounts though...

Price: $10

62/100

McDowell's No.1 Platinum (42.8%):

Color: Paler than Luxury, Chardonnay color but with similar legs.

Nose: Better... Underripe pears, bottled apple juice and room refreshener.

Palate: Ouch... Dish liquid and soap bar... Extremely soapy. I didn't see that coming to be honest. Laundry detergent and battery leak. Yuck...

Finish: Longer than the Luxury and I am certainly not happy it taking its time... Cheap hotel room soap bars and rubbing alcohol.

Overall: I was so hopeful after the nose but the palate is a total let-down. Weird, because if I was tasting a more familiar whisky brand I would say that it is a faulty bottle but with these kind of spirits you never know... Thanks to Susannah Skiver Barton for the samples.

Price: $10

52/100

*taken from Malt Whisky Yearbook by Ingvar Ronde

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