A 1989 vintage from The Macallan's Fine & Rare Collection, bottled from a single cask, number 3247, at 21 years old and at cask strength of 55.2% ABV. It is a dark, spicy sherry-cask whisky from late in the 1980s.
About This Whisky
Cask 3247 was filled in 1989 and bottled in 2010, and it is recorded as a sherry-seasoned cask. The colour came out exceptionally dark, close to ebony with red lights, and Cigar Aficionado reviewed it at the time of its release. At 55.2% it carries real power, and its profile runs to meaty fruit, nuts and spice rather than light citrus, a good foil for the 1988 cask from the same decade.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Dried fruit and orange zest, generous chocolate, cinnamon and clove. Honey, leather and a sandalwood note build with time.
- Palate: Oaky and explosive, with berries and caramel, then clove, liquorice and nutmeg. Walnut and hazelnut soften it towards a graham cracker sweetness.
- Finish: Oak, woody herbs and dried fruit, with a touch of pear.
Serving & Food
At this strength, serve in a small nosing glass with a jug of room-temperature water beside it and let each guest find their level. It stands up well to a cigar, a plate of candied walnuts, or roast goose with plum sauce.
How to Enjoy
A 21st birthday or 1989 birth-year bottle, and drinkers who like big, cask-strength sherry whisky.
Product Details
Producer: The Macallan
Series: Fine & Rare Collection
Style: Speyside single malt Scotch whisky
Vintage: 1989
Year bottled: 2010
Age: 21 years old
Cask: #3247, sherry-seasoned
ABV: 55.2%
Country: Scotland
Region: Speyside
Volume: 750mL
About the Distillery
All Macallan is made on one piece of land: the 485-acre estate at Easter Elchies, above a bend in the River Spey near Craigellachie. Easter Elchies House sits at the centre of it, and its outline appears on every modern Macallan label as a nod to the estate's sense of place and community. The estate holds the distillery, the warehouses where the casks rest, and fields around them, and every Sherry Oak whisky is matured there for 12, 18, 25 or 30 years before release.