Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Oak

This is the Macallan that made the distillery's reputation for sherried whisky: eighteen years in European oak seasoned with sherry, and nothing else. No American cask lightens it, which is exactly the point.

Macallan overlooks the Spey at Craigellachie in Speyside, and its Sherry Oak line is the house at its most traditional. The casks here are European oak, seasoned with sherry in Jerez before they ever reach Scotland, and eighteen years in that wood gives a whisky of real depth and colour. It is bottled at 43%.

The nose is rich and heavily fruited: fruit cake, mulberry and moist gingerbread, cinnamon and cedar, nutmeg and bitter chocolate over raisin and candied fruit. The palate has a big, mouth-coating body, sultanas, dried plum and fig, dark-chocolate-coated ginger, dates and dried apricot, balanced by a natural oiliness that carries the European oak tannins. The finish is long, with charred oak, caramel and lingering sherry spice. At full richness it needs no water, though a drop will not hurt.

A bottle to open for a milestone, or to keep for a collector who values Macallan's classic sherried style. Buy it, and it will reward patience whether you drink it now or hold it.

How to Serve

Neat in a tulip glass or Glencairn, at room temperature, to let the sherried fruit and oak show in full. Water is optional and best added a single drop at a time.

Where to Drink It

The Connaught Bar, a fitting room for a whisky of this standing. Artesian at The Langham, for an evening that deserves the occasion. American Bar at The Savoy, where a landmark Speyside belongs.

Food Pairings

A whisky this rich holds its own against serious food. Roast game or a board of aged cheese and cured ham is where I'd start, with a few Medjool dates as the one sweet concession.