Macallan 18 Years Old Fine Oak purple border 43% NV

BOW (85)

small purple border around the label

Serge Valentin (80)

Colour: straw – yes again, all four, 10, 12, 15 and 18 yo show almost the same colour. Nose: ah, quite a different class this time. It’s much more expressive, although in the same vein as the 15yo. It’s woody right from the start, with old books and cocoa powder mixed with some flowers, not unlike the 10 yo (violet, lily, lilac). Hints of sherry and milk caramel, vanilla fudge, orange. Not bad at all. Mouth: sweet but extremely woody. Rum, raisins, vanilla, fruitcake, cocoa… Some fresh fruit too (apple). Again, the finish isn’t very long but quite woody. This one really makes me think of some rum from La Réunion. It’s good whisky, but again, like last time, I get the feeling it’s really far from the older 18 yo – whichever the vintages. But I’ll taste the new ‘sherry’ 18 yo very, very soon. Why not do a HtoH tasting with this ‘Fine Oak’? Good idea, stay tuned!