A 1985 vintage from The Macallan's Fine & Rare Collection, drawn from a single hogshead, cask 190413, and bottled in 2014 at 29 years old. The cask gave 237 bottle equivalents across 750mL, 700mL and 50mL sizes.
About This Whisky
Cask 190413 was a hogshead, around 250 litres, filled in 1985. Its tint is recorded as 62, and the whisky went into bottle in 2014 at 46.8% ABV. At 29 years it shows the resinous, date-and-clove side of long sherry-oak maturation rather than bright fruit.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Intense yet soft and resinous: dates, dried fruit and clove with wood spice over a firm oak frame. Treacle and chocolate sit underneath.
- Palate: Dates, raisins and clove unfold over rich oak, with a faint lift of citrus and apple.
- Finish: Warming, with wood spice, dried fruit and polished oak.
Serving & Food
Serve neat at around 18 to 20°C in a copita or small tulip glass, adding water only if the oak grips. Good with a board of dates, walnuts and aged Parmesan, or with slow-braised beef cheek.
How to Enjoy
A 1985 birth-year gift or a 29th anniversary bottle, and a mid-1980s cask for a Fine & Rare line-up.
Product Details
Distillery: The Macallan
Series: Fine & Rare Collection
Vintage: 1985
Year bottled: 2014
Age: 29 years old
Cask: Hogshead #190413
Tint: 62
Outturn: 237 bottle equivalents
Region: Speyside, Scotland
ABV: 46.8%
Volume: 750mL
About the Distillery
The Macallan puts most of its effort into wood. The distillery says the oak cask accounts for the largest share of a whisky's natural colour, aroma and flavour, so it controls the process from the forest onwards. Casks are built from selected European and American oak, filled with sherry and seasoned in Jerez for around 18 months, then shipped to Speyside and filled with new make. The spirit stays in that same cask for as long as it needs. Because no caramel is added, Macallan grades its whiskies on its own colour scale, and each Fine & Rare bottle states its tint.