Next stop in my Christmas gift tasting list is this beauty. Here's the story. I'm out to a nice dinner with my wife, who's been lukewarm at best about my whisky hobby, and I ask the bartender how much for a pour of each of the following: Laphroaig Lore, Yamazaki 18, and Macallan 18. The price isn't important, only you should know this place WAS charging more for Mac 18 than it was for Yamazaki 18, but I digress. I had already imbibed a few cocktails, and the price they wanted for each of those pours seemed too steep given how much I'd already consumed. Fast forward to Christmas morning, and I unwrap a bottle of Wild Turkey Rare Breed my wife had bought me (score!), and she's very adamant about how she's not buying me any more whisky. Fair. I bought a lot last year. After presents, I make breakfast, and we go about our Christmas day, when she pulls out another present for me, and inside is this bottle. My jaw about dropped to the floor. Normally I wouldn't indulge Macallan's overpricing (my opinion), but my lovely wife outdid herself this year. High marks just for that. It certainly looks stately on my shelf, but how's it taste? The nose is like the few other Macallans I've tried: crisp, clean, balanced, evident of good cask management/quality. It took some time for the nose to open up. About 20-30 minutes in the glass before a nosing. This "fine oak" version has both bourbon and sherry matured malt in it, and the balance is on display. Good blending. No one note is overpowering the others. Clearly a sum of its parts. On the taste is where the age and the oak come in to play. Rich, coating, slightly tannic, slightly fruity, lingers on the mid-palate, and then drying on the finish. I'd like a bit of a longer, stronger finish, but that's what you get for 43% with chill filtering. I suppose the casks do a number after 18+ years. I confess, I haven't tried many Macallans. Their price point seems like an overall poor VFM to me, and I can get better sherry matured malts (and have) for a fraction of the price. A lot of Youtube videos do this one (and the sherry cask one) head to head with the Glendronach 18 (I know, I talk about Glendronach a lot, but hey, they're that good to me), and the GD comes out on top every time. The reviews for this particular bottle I've read aren't exactly encouraging, but here are my final thoughts: This is a subtle malt. Nose, palate, taste, finish, everything has been put in its place for a specific experience. No sherry punch, no overly oaky notes, no peat. Just a clean, curated experience. It reminds me of an elegant, multi-course French meal, where everything is in its place and the subtly of flavor is celebrated. This bottle also now has sentimental value to me as it was gifted by my wife, who went through the trouble of tracking this down with next to no knowledge of whisky. Final score is a 92 for me, and should other Macallans find their way into my collection, then I look forward to those experiences as well. Cheers!