Oh Taste & See: Whisky MAG'5

I bought a bottle of Whisky Mag'5 earlier this summer while on vacation, mostly because I couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Also it was inexpensive enough to take a chance on, but I learned the lesson that sometimes taking chances on cheap whisky doesn't work out and you end up wishing you had bought more rum instead.


Turns out Mag'5 is 80 proof blended 'Scotch' from Spain. When examining the bottle it's not clear (by design I'm sure) whether anything in the bottle is actually from Scotland but the picture on the label is captioned "Highlands View in 1845" so the bottler, Destillerias MG, is certainly trying to evoke images of kilts and bagpipes. According to their website Mag'5 is blended from the "best Scotch whisky malt and cereals" so I guess it is Scottish, but not Scottish enough to be labeled Scotch.

I had assumed that the 5 might be an indicator of the whisky's age, but I can't find anything to confirm that on the bottle, on the website, or in the taste. So, in the name of giving you a review, I'll pronounce it Mag Cinco and choke it down. I'll tell you up front though that this is not available in the U.S., and you shouldn't bother with buying it even if you do stumble upon it at a crazy low price while exploring foreign lands.

Color: Mag'5 is very light in color with a pale straw tint reminiscent of dirty dish-water.

Nose: The nose is very weak, but it does get your hopes up just a bit at first with faint peat notes and a bit of honey. On later whiffs though the peat seems more musty than smokey, and the main aroma coming through is weak ethanol.

Flavor: The best word to describe Mag'5's flavor is flat. There's very little going on, and the peat flavors that do come through are still a bit off. There's a little earthy, nutty flavor going on, but overall this whisky tastes watered-down. I tried adding water to see if that would open up any more flavor, but there wasn't any noticeable difference.

Finish: Nope - almost nothing there, maybe a little oak flavor...maybe.

So, no suspense here, I didn't like Whisky Mag'5 and I don't see any reason to go searching for it. Spanish Scotch makes a nice curiosity though and I'm sure it would make a passable mixer with ginger ale or coke.