What better way to cleanse the palate of overpriced, industrial-grade cleaning solvent than with some luxurious, debatably-overpriced Macallan? Macallan’s core range got a makeover in 2018. The Macallan 12 Year Old Sherry Oak Cask is aged exclusively in European Sherry oak. It uses no American oak, in contrast to the 12 Year Old Double Oak (American + European oak) and leaves out the ex-bourbon casks featured in the 12 Year Old Triple Cask. It’s also refreshingly presented with its natural color at 43% ABV. Nose: Sweet honey and chocolate. Vanilla, bits of ginger spice, and dried figs ride an assortment of chocolate and fruity aromas. I find Macallan noses to be a bit mild-mannered and subdued, but it’s a pleasant nose nonetheless. Palate: Fruity and sweet (of the red and dark, dried fruit variety). Figgy. Cassia bark and ginger. Not quite as rich and full-bodied as I want to be based in the nose. Lots of chocolate (right around the 50% cacao variety) and tannic oak. A bit of cream, but not enough to fill out the palate fully. The mouthfeel of the tannins is nice, but not as nice as I find the Double Cask tannins to be. Finish: Medium length, with creamy chocolate, followed by spice and rounded, drying oak tannins. The oak definitely fills the majority of the finish and trails off a bit bitterly. In this instance, I find the exclusive use of European oak to be a bit too tannic and bitter for my liking, and (shocker!) I actually think I prefer the Double Cask to the Sherry Cask. Why? Neither of them are impressive to me - the Sherry Cask seems a bit over-oaked (read: bitter) and the Double Cask is so plain/vanilla ice cream/mashed potatoes (read: very close to sleep-through-it boring). But, the mouthfeel and tannic quality on the Double Cask is actually quite impressive to me (and frankly, the only thing that stands out). So I think the Double Cask wins here, particularly in the VFM category, but that’s not saying much. Side note: while this may not seem like a very natural head-to-head comparison, I put the Macallan Sherry Cask up against anCnoc 12 (I was curious to compare two equally-aged, sweet and fruity malts but with different casks makeups; i.e. European oak v. American and Spanish oak). Results? The Macallan Sherry Cask served the purpose of making the anCnoc 12 more interesting while the (European) Sherry Oak diminished. The caramelly smokiness of anCnoc 12 became even more prominent and enticing while the Sherry Cask seemed more bitter. So, this serves to reaffirm that a less prestigious bottle of anCnoc 12 is a better purchase for me than the Macallan 12 Sherry Oak Cask. I give this a 3.25 based on its overall profile and a nod to its pedigree, but if I was taking cost into consideration, I would score it lower. I was lucky this bottle was “on sale”. 3.25 ~ 79 ~ Average