Review #780 - SMWS 24.167 'Glory Days' - Macallan 13 Year
Macallan single malt is strongly associated with sherry cask maturation - that's the case here with this single cask bottling from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. This 13 year old spirit was fully matured in sherry casks, but it's actually a finished whisky. Initially, SMWS aged a larger parcel of Macallan spirit in Oloroso sherry butts for about 10 years; then, they dumped and vatted the casks before re-racking the spirit into a series of new casks - this single cask was one of those.
The finishing cask, which this spirit spent about 3 years in, was a first fill Oloroso sherry hogshead, specifically a hogshead made with Spanish oak. Because of this, we're expecting a relatively strong sherry influence (confirmed by the ridiculously dark natural color of the whisky), as well as a bit of potential oak spice with that oak species. At the end of the 13 years of maturation, this single malt still kept an impressive strength of 63.3% ABV, suggesting that these casks were possibly filled at 'still strength' originally.
SMWS does like to inflate the price a little bit on their Macallan releases; this 13 year single malt originally retailed for about $180 here in the US.
SMWS 24.167 'Glory Days' - Macallan 13 Year
Scotland/Speyside - Single Malt
Price: USD 180 (2022)
Age Statement: 13 Years
Strength: 63.3% ABV
Cask Makeup: Oloroso sherry butts, finished in a first fill Spanish oak Oloroso sherry hogshead
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled October 13, 2008; 319 bottles
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 2 times (once blind) over 14 months from a sample. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Rich sherry influence - very strong fruits of red grape, blackberry, and cherry cough syrup, some tannic grape skins too. Allspice, oak spice, and wormwood add a sharper dimension, and it smells a bit hot. Chocolate, malt, and a hint of fragrant wood smoke add to the dark complexion, and it's a little bit musty.
Palate: A thick mouthfeel, and it's oaky and strong. There's a nice spirity note, but then we get blackberries, chocolate cake, prune, and raisin - quite rich and cask-dominated. Perfumed oak and dry cocoa powder come later, along with a bit of leather; decent complexity, and a nice mix of sweet and sharp notes.
Finish: Grape and juicy blackberry, orange, raisin - a lot of dark fruit notes. Leather and drying tannins bring a decent spicy oak influence, and we get some chocolate-orange candy notes later. It's quite warm, and the finish is long.
Final Note: This is a huge sherry bomb of a whisky - very potent with that high strength, and there's a strong fruit character and oak spice to this single malt. Lots of dark, stewed fruits, but we also enjoyed the baking spice and chocolate notes that we found, especially on the nose.
Value here is a little below average, mostly due to the high price. It's a good whisky, but we think that you can get an equivalent high-strength sherried whisky for quite a bit cheaper than this; then again, if you're looking for the Macallan name, that does always come with a price increase.
Our Rating: 7.6 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 5.40
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
