Spicing is subtle here – delicate and dusty ginger, and is joined by just a hint of cinnamon and menthol. Then candied orange peels, coffee beans and treacle tarts. Christmas cake, toffee, hints of furniture polish and a huge assortment of berries – some fresh, some stewed, some dried. Bright and crisp sherry notes intermingle with pronounced fruitiness and just the right amount of austere aging. We're taking a look at the most recent edition of this whisky, produced in 2017 and bottled at 43% ABV. And who’s to really blame Edrington’s pricing strategy if people keep on buying it regardless of any notions of cost vs quality? It’s not an entirely unusual situation if you look across the wider luxury goods market – Macallan 18 year old Sherry Oak is just a really good example of a Veblen good. Somewhat similarly to Johnnie Walker Blue Label, this bottling is made for oligarchs, city traders and z-list celebrities – the sort of people who probably don’t know much about whisky, but want a ‘good one’ that ideally costs a lot of money (price being directly related to quality. But, it’s not produced for the likes of you and I. Is this what being iconic means?Īs you’ll see shortly when we get to our tasting notes, Macallan’s 18 year old Sherry Oak is a lovely lovely whisky. I’m sure, like me, you’re waiting with baited breath for the 2018 price.
To put this into black and white for you, here’s the rough cost of this bottle over the past 5 years. Macallan’s 18 year old Sherry Oak is disgustingly overpriced – and that price is also on an express elevator ever upwards. To some, this may seem like a slightly courageous marketing move – surely there’s more to say about the whisky than this? No long-winded description? No barely believable back-story? Not even a hint of a golden eagle flying over the distillery? The reality of the Macallan 18 year old is that nowadays it has such cache (amongst certain profiles of whisky drinkers) that it pretty much sells itself. When you visit Macallan’s website and check out the listing for their 18 year old, you’re greeted with a somewhat sparse page simply describing the bottle as ‘the iconic Macallan’ – nothing more, nothing less. Bottle Name: Macallan 18 year old Sherry Oak ABV: 43%
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