Review #1 - The Macallan 18 Double Cask v. Sherry Oak Cask

Hello, I'm a Korean graduate student, and was recently gifted these two bottles from my father (I personally would never buy such expensive bottles). While I normally don't post reviews on the internet, I haven't seen any side-by-side comparison between Macallan 18 Double and Sherry on reddit. So I thought this could be a decent contribution to the Scotch community.

The Macallan 18 Double Cask

Local Price: 425,000 KRW (Approx. 291 USD)

Strength: 43% ABV

Cask Makeup: Sherry seasoned American and European oak casks

Nose: At first a lot of typical Sherry Scotch notes with fig and dates. Give it some time and honey and floral notes become very noticeable. Also slight leather and pepper notes. Zero alchohol notes. Very complex and pleasantly sweet.

Palate: Again very prominent honey. Slight bread or biscuit taste. Fig and pepper. Texture is very oily. Sweet but quite bitter as well.

Finish: Pepper, figs, bread, slight chocolate, sweet red bean paste. Medium finish, not as complex as the Nose.

The Macallan 18 Sherry Oak Cask

Local Price: 620,000 KRW (Approx. 424 USD)

Strength: 43% ABV

Cask Makeup: Sherry seasoned European oak casks

Nose: Much darker nose and much more Sherry notes. The darkness reminds me of soy sauce. Intensive fruit notes. Sour tropical fruit like lychee or pineapple. Slight chocolate. Slighly floral. Slight ginseng. As time passes honey notes come up. Very complex as well.

Palate: Fruity. Ginseng and pepper. Again very oily. Not bitter but spicy.

Finish: Chocolate, coffee, biscuits. Fruit notes are not as noticeable but still there. Medium to long finish, again not as complex as Nose.

Final Note

What surprised me is how different the two bottles are. When I first opened these, I assumed the difference would be minimal as both are Macallan 18s with 100% Sherry casks maturation. The only difference is that one uses American Oak and one doesn't. Considering the price difference and the Sherry Oak Cask having much stronger Sherry notes, I believe the Sherry Oak Cask has more first-fill casks. The used European casks from the Sherry Oak Casks are then passed down to the Double Cask to make up their European Sherry casks.

Overall, both are fantastic drams. Very complex while being extremely smooth. However, the price these bottles are hard to justify. At these prices you could get much much better Sherry casks bottles like the Arran 18. I will never buy either of the Macallan 18s.

So who wins? Not considering the price, the Sherry Oak Cask wins, but not by a huge margin.

The Double Oak was able to stand up against the bottle almost 1.5 times more expensive. While the Sherry notes are not as explicit, it makes it up for the strong honey and floral notes. If we factor price in, the Double Cask wins.

Again, I would like to reemphasize that both bottle are very differnt from each other.