In July I wrote tasting notes to my first Macallan 18 Sherry Wood, but that was from a bottling from 1994 or 1995. The dram I had now was a more recent version and I thought it rather interesting to see if there’s a big difference. Initially I bought this dram to check it off my ‘101’ list, and the older style dram because it was an old Macallan.

Nose:
A full blast of sherry to start with. There’s a lot of fruit in there, but mostly sweet citrus. A bit nutty as well. Most of the fruits go in the tropical direction. Mango and pineapple and such.

Taste:
A nice full flavour that coats your entire mouth in goodness. Loads of fruit again. I do get some spices this time, and some wood as well. I also get ‘spekkoek’ (which, according to the internet, translated to layered cake…).

Finish:
Papaya and mango dominate the long and lingering finish. Very smooth and sweet.

This is also a cracking dram, but just slightly less so compared to the older version. This one has a little less depth and complexity, and some of the flavours are less pronounced. Now I got sweet citrus, and in the older version it was clearly orange.

The only reason to go for this one is the fact that its 4 times cheaper…

Macallan 18, Sherry Wood, 43%, available at Master of Malt.

Find a bottle here.

Nose: 8
Taste: 8
Finish: 8
Overal experience: 8
Price/quality: +1

Total: 33 points