It is a Kirkland brand. My daughter and I have a tradition of drinking single malt on New Years. Although she will not be here this year, I picked up a bottle and am saving it for New Years with my friends.
I have never been disappointed in the Kirkland brand. I am hoping this will be awesome. Have you tried it?
Yes. It is good. (I’ve heard it is Macallen rebranded.)
It is good…but it doesn’t taste like any Macallan 18 year old I’ve ever tried.
According to thisand this, Kirkland is Macallan produced spirit that was bought by independent bottlers 20-ish years ago fresh from the still. It’s therefore been stored in very different conditions - very different barrels - than your actual Macallan. Hence a good whisky, but a completely different flavour. It seems the main difference is that Macallan only uses ex-sherry casks, and the bottlers almost certainly don’t.
But the consensus seems to be you’ve got yourself a good single malt at a damn good price.
Thank you for the links Stanislaus. Speyside was a few dollars more than 12 y/o Glenfiddish. Hopefully it was a good choice.
Wow, a non-sherried Macallan? I’ve got to see if my local Costco has any. For me, the sherry is really the defining characteristic of that Scotch, so I’m really curious what it’ll taste like.
Glenlivet 18 year is another fine Speyside, if you want to compare and contrast.
Thank you for the links. That explains why it didn’t quite match up with the Macallans I’ve had before.