Review #983 - Decadent Drams The Virtual Malt 17 Year (Macallan)

Roy Duff of the Aqvavitae YouTube channel has now released 10 different single cask or small batch selections in partnership with a variety of distilleries. This includes Loch Lomond, Ardnamurchan, Smogen, Ardnahoe, Daftmill, and Glasgow 1770; there's also this release from Decadent Drams called 'The Virtual Malt,' a reference to the weekly vPub (Virtual Pub) livestream that runs on the Aqvavitae channel.

There's no distillery mentioned on the label, but this is a Macallan single malt which was aged for 17 years. All of those years were spent maturing in a first fill sherry hogshead, a cask which yielded 344 bottles at Roy's preferred bottling strength of 55% ABV.

So, a well-specced, natural Macallan that spent its entire life in a sherry cask - there's a lot of potential here. Let's see how it turned out.

Decadent Drams The Virtual Malt 17 Year (Macallan)

Scotland/Speyside - Single Malt

Price: USD 197 (2025)

Age Statement: 17 Years

Strength: 55% ABV

Cask Makeup: First fill sherry hogshead

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled 2008, bottled 2025; 344 bottles

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 2 times over 3 months from a sample. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Dark and rich, extremely savory, quite dense. There's a nice old school character with some funky, sulphury sherry and mustiness, and dark fruits dominate: tart prune, blackcurrant, and blood orange. Dark chocolate, vanilla, meaty notes, and soft caramel are accents, and we get an interesting sweet and sour sauce scent at the end.

Palate: The mouthfeel has a medium thickness. Lots of punchy, sweet and acidic fruits hit first: prunes, plums, raisins, dark grapes. It's borderline syrupy at times, and we also get a tickle of demerara sugar, strong medjool dates, licorice, and cinnamon. Clove is a one-off accent.

Finish: Blood orange and blackberries, cinnamon, prunes, juicy raisin - a total sherry monster. Oak spice builds quickly, and we get hints of malt, oily oak, and caramel later. Red pepper flake spice lingers in the aftertaste; it's decadent, with a medium-long finish.

Final Note: This is a true sherry bomb with a lot of those modern Macallan notes - savory, sulphury, loads of dark fruit. The casks are definitely doing the heavy lifting, and while there isn't much subtlety to this whisky, we're enjoying it quite a bit for what it is. We also specifically found that licorice note in the back of the palate and into the finish, a flavor we're really enjoying - it adds a nice dimension.

Value for this bottle is a little below average despite the good score due to the high price associated with it. These are sold out now, and this bottle is getting a bit of a reputation for being a great Macallan, so you end up paying for it.

Our Rating: 8.0 / 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: 5.52

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.