Maybe Buy Macallan?: Macallan 12yo "110 Proof" review

Videos telling viewers not to buy Macallan have been holiday shopping fixtures on this channel pretty much since its inception. I've reviewed better alternatives (   • Don't Buy Macallan: Reviewing Aberlour 12 ...   ), I've reviewed far better past Macallans against present ones (   • Macallans Present and Past: 12yo Double Ca...   ), I've reviewed reasonably priced independent Macallans against rums and brandies (   • If Not Macallan: Speymalt 2003, Apreval Ca...   ); even Tom has tried his hand at fixing the Macallan (twice!!    • Tom the Whiskey Fund Manager Fixes Review ...   and    • Tom Saves The Macallan (Featuring Tom the ...   ). And in five years of doing this I've never actually seen one that looked like it was worth buying, because I just haven't thought they were competitive at their price points. But today that changes! Edrington seems to have realized that they're not going to get any more money selling $200 NAS limited edition stuff to gullible collectors and that it may actually be worth getting the nerds back on their side, and so they've dropped a new high proof 12 year old. It's clearly meant as a call-back to the 10yo Cask Strengths of yore, and although there is a catch - it's sherry casks but they're all US oak [Edit: Apparently I was reading the little oak scale on the back incorrectly, and this is majority European oak. -S] - at circa $100 on sale this is, on paper at least, totally competitive with sherry bomb offerings from Aberlour, Glenfarclas, Tamdhu, Glendronach, etc.. So I bought one, and here we go: Macallan 12 Year Old "110 Proof" Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Aberlour, Scotland; matured in sherry-seasoned American oak, bottled circa 2025; 55% ABV), 87💧/100 So yes, it's a holiday miracle, this reasonably-priced Macallan is actually pretty solid. The US oak combined with the heavy sherry gives this a salted caramel corn kind of character, combined with the usual chocolate orange/Turkish coffee/rosewater thing you'd expect. On the palate the ash and pepper do come in way too early to shut down the fun, but a bit of water opens things right up. So yeah! It's not beating a decent batch of A'bunadh - and it's most definitely not beating Tamdhu at its best (   • Tamdhu Batch Strength v. Highland Park Cas...   )- but it's better than that Glendronach CS I had way back when (   • Blind Tasting/Review #4: Glendronach Cask ...   ). And it's competitive at its price point, which is something I haven't been able to say about a Macallan for a very long time. Extra special thanks to my Different Spirits on Patreon (  / differentspirits  ) - Gerard-Paul Aman Eric Amig Anthony Darcy Bean Chris Bobby Jamie Brown Kingsbury bushcraft William Christopher Clematis Rob D Liam Davitt Joe Devine Samuel Dose eon Ingmar nine Steve Frazee Ian Gendler Solomon Grundy John Halliday Alex Hurd Trevor Jarrait Jonathan Lestingi Kyaru Ariel Mserious Craig Nielsen Jason Newquist No Thanks Chris Rhodes Randy Rice Lael Rios RumSquirrel Gordon W Zach W Mean Will