What an improvement on Mac 18

by **shane** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 12:10 pm

Just had a bottle of Macallan 18 1985 and older vintages over xmas and new year. One pour will last in the glass for ages as the nose is so rich you can almost taste it in your mouth. This is Macallan 18 back to its old form allthough it aint a single vintage (who cares with whisky this good). Anyone disappointed with Macallans of late (last 5 years or so) go out there and get yourself a bottle or two, open it, drink it and remember what Macallan used to taste like years ago. Pass on the rest of the range as they are still pretty average i.e 12,25 cask strength. ENJOY.

by **Admiral** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 3:43 am

After all the discussion that took place about the decline of the Macallan, it would be interesting to know what happened to make the 1985 a better bottling?

Did they use more golden promise that year?
Is the bottling specifically from casks filled in 1985, or have they added some older malts to the vatting?

Has anyone else tried this vintage and found the same improvement that Shane describes?

by **shane** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 11:52 am

The label states youngest whisky distilled in 1985. But no idea as to the percentage of golden promise.

by **Admiral** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 1:49 pm

So, going by the label then, it is possible (even probable) that the vatting could have some whisky in it that is older than 18 years!

by **shane** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 12:12 pm

I would bet 99.99999999999999999999999999999999% that there are older whisky's in the vatting. This is why they have labeled the last two vintages (not) like this. The reason was that they could not achieve the flavour profile they were looking for in the 18yo by keeping it a single years distillation therefore adding older whisky's to it (so i've heard).

by **Admiral** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 3:23 am

Yes, that was my point - they've changed the label to reflect what they now need to do to achieve the desired flavour profile.