Macallan 18 Years Old Gran Reserva 1979 40% 1979

Distillery	Macallan
Bottler	OB
Serie	Gran Reserva
Bottled for	x
Distilled date	1979
Bottling date	1997
Country	Scotland
Region	Speyside
Age	18
Cask Type	sherry
Cask Number	X
Alcohol percentage	40
Volume	0,70
Condition	In Original Wooden Case
Label	Perfect
Stock	0

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (91)

The old hyper-sherried version of the popular 18yo. I didn’t like the 1980 too much but I’ve heard this 1979 is much superior.

Colour: dark mahogany.

Nose: yes, this is extremely different from any other Macallan. Starts on heady notes of mulled wine, cloves, big juniper berries, spearmint and coffee toffee and gets then more classically sherried, with the dark chocolate upfront and then notes of soy sauce, balsamico and barbecued beef. Also cigar box, thuja wood and very ripe blackberries. What’s quite incredible is that the whole is still quite fresh and lively, and certainly not sluggish. I like it.

Mouth: thick, oily, rich, not weak at all despite the 40%, and more of a classic now. Heavy notes of rum-soaked raisins, figs, old rancio (huge!) and orange and herbs liqueur (like that famous Dantziger Goldwasser). Gets then spicier, mainly on cloves and pepper, with very funny hints of mescal as well. Excellent, really.

Finish: long, coating, rich but clean and pure, with a faint saltiness as the signature and an aftertaste on blackberry jelly.

Excellent sherried Macallan, certainly not on the same planet as its bros from 1980 and later.

BOW (92)