Macallan 13 Year (SMWS 24.162 "Dystopian Deviant")

 

This single cask bottle of Macallan caught me by surprise. I think it's the final bottling of a longstanding vatting project by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") where they took 10 year Oloroso-matured Macallan and re-vatted it, and then finished it in different sherry casks. I've had four bottles from this project (24.147, 24.157, 24.159, 24.160), and they were all spectacular - they reinforce Macallan's reputation for exceptional casking. So I bought the final bottle as a matter of course, even though it was more expensive and in the new 700 mL format. 

Macallan 12 Year (SMWS 24.160 "Baked Treats in a Humidor")

 

The second of two cask strength sherry-matured Macallan bottlings I picked up from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"). This comes from a large-scale revatting project at the SMWS, where they take 10 year old sherry-matured Macallan and then age it in different sherry casks or hogshead for another two years. 

Macallan 12 Year (SMWS 24.159 "Past Glories")

 

Well, the last two cask strength Macallans I had (both from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society) were both excellent. Ultimate sherry bombs rich in both sweet and savory sherry textures. I have been hoarding my last bottle, "In a Tapas Bar," which was part of this same revatting project, where they take a large amount of 10 year Macallan sherry-matured scotch and apply a variety of different sherry cask finishes. 

David vs Goliath - The Battle of the Single Cask Sherry Bombs

 

I normally don't do posts like this, but I couldn't resist - I got both these bottles about a week apart and they begged for comparison. 

DAVID: A 13 year bottle of Dailuaine (a distillery owned and operated by Diageo, 98% of their production goes into Johnnie Walker), matured for 11 years in an Oloroso butt and another 2 year finish in a Pedro Ximenez butt. Bottled at 57.5% ABV by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"). 

GOLIATH: A 12 year bottle Macallan (a renowned distillery owned and operated by The Edrington Group, famous for its high prices and sherry casking), matured for 10 years in an Oloroso butt and then revatted and finished for 2 years in a Pedro Ximenez butt. Bottled at 63.9% ABV by the SMWS.

So we have two massive sherry bombs. Can the smaller distillery keep up? Let's find out...

Macallan 12 Year (SMWS 24.157 "In a Tapas Bar")

 

Another single cask, natural strength Macallan from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS")! I'm delighted. The last bottle (24.147, "The Deepest of Mahogany") was absolutely rich and impressive from every single angle - a rare opportunity to have a full blast sherry bomb from a well-known distillery that prides themselves on full sherry maturation. 

A quick SMWS note: the cask coding is used to protect the identities of the many, many distilleries who sell their casks to the SMWS; this is somewhat common in the independent bottlings scene, as you'll often see bottles from "Unidentified Orkney" or generic "Highland distillery" and so on. In this case, 24.157 indicates the 157th bottling released from distillery 24 (in this case, known to be Macallan). 

This bottle comes from a specific project where they took five 10 year Macallan casks that had been aged in first-fill Oloroso butts, revatted them, and then finished the revatted single malt in three other sherry casks (!). I'm intrigued. 

Macallan 12 Year (SMWS 24.147 "The Deepest of Mahogany")

 

It's not very often you run across an independent bottling of Macallan, one of the Fine Old Names in Scotch. Well known for having old bottles selling at auction in the tens of thousands of dollars/pounds, they tend to guard their brand very, very carefully, and presumably they don't like to have their name and reputation out there floating around outside their control. 

On the other hand, their brand has become a bit silly in the last few years, with rapidly climbing prices and more and more No Age Statement bottlings that verge on the ridiculous with the amount of hype and pretension invested in them. Many people have commented that they are perhaps too obsessed with their own image. So what to make of this bottle?

Macallan 12 Year Double Cask

 

Double Cask is the Macallan that is aged twelve years in seasoned sherry casks and then married to scotch that has been aged in European oak casks. The result is bottled at 43% and placed in a truly lovely bottle. How does it taste? Let's find out:

Aberlour 10 Year

This is the third of the three Scotches I sampled on a remote beach in Northwest Madagascar. The other two (Talisker 57 Degrees North and Johnnie Walker Green Label) I had first, and were outstanding. Running my eye down the bar's row of Scotch, I saw only one bottle I hadn't had - Aberlour 10 Year. 

Macallan 12 Year Sherry Oak

Macallan's fall from grace - or at least the supposed fall from grace - or, that is, their continued and heavily debated thrust to position themselves as one of the great elite Scotch brands through intense advertising, perhaps deceptively - is something that has spawned thousands of words across the internet. I think MaltMadness does a particularly good job explaining some of the core problems. I personally have yet to meet a Scotch drinker who really liked any of their new and much-promoted Fine Oak line. 

Macallan 10 Year Fine Oak

This is the first "real" single malt Scotch I purchased for myself, for the express purpose of sipping and learning and appreciating. It was on sale at a local liquor store for a price I then considered "reasonable" - $36 or so - and when seeing it against the value of the other Macallan bottlings (whose pricing has no real upper limits, it would seem), it appeared to be a steal.